Tuesday, 02 January 2024 12:17 GMT

Nepal's Ex-PM Oli to Undergo Kidney Surgery


(MENAFN) Nepal's former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was released from police custody on Thursday to undergo a kidney operation, authorities confirmed.

Oli, 74, who suffers from chronic kidney disease, was transferred directly to Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in the capital Kathmandu, where his wife, Radhika Shakya, was waiting to receive him. Senior police officer Pawan Kumar Bhattarai confirmed the development to media.

The former premier had been taken into custody in late March over alleged involvement in the deadly crackdown on protesters during the Gen Z-led demonstrations that ultimately brought down his government last autumn. Police recorded his statement while he remained hospitalized following his arrest.

In a parallel development, former Home Minister Ramesh Lekhak was also freed from detention Thursday. Both releases followed a Supreme Court order barring police from holding the men in indefinite detention.

The protests that unseated Oli's administration turned deadly last September, when security forces killed at least 77 demonstrators — the majority of them young people — and left some 700 others wounded. The unrest was ignited by a government-imposed ban on social media platforms, triggering mass mobilization that ultimately forced Oli from power.

Oli, who also leads the Communist Party of Nepal, has consistently characterized his arrest as politically motivated — an act of vendetta by his successors rather than a pursuit of genuine accountability.

Stepping into the political vacuum left behind is new Prime Minister Balen Shah — a 35-year-old former rapper, ex-mayor of Kathmandu, and the youngest individual ever to assume the country's top executive office.

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