(FNJ/IFEX) - Yuvraj Adhikary, a local correspondent of Radio Nepal, was attacked by cadres of the Maoist-aligned Young Communist League (YCL) on 2 May 2007 in the Kusumba market of Bardiya, a mid-western district of Nepal.
Adhikary had gone to the Kusumba market to collect news about a clash between armed police forces, deployed at the market for border security purposes, and a group of refugees and freed bonded laborers led by YCL.
While Adhikary was covering the news, YCL cadres hurled stones at him and attacked him with sticks, pursuing him for about 500 meters. Adhikary then locked himself inside the bathroom of a neighboring home. The cadres then went to his residence, located near the market, and broke the windowpanes of his house.
According to Yuvraj Shrestha, president of FNJ-Bardiya branch, Adhikary has received telephone threats in the name of YCL cadres in the past for writing news about them. In those calls, he was warned that he could be abducted or killed at any time.
FNJ condemns the incident and demands action be taken to apprehend and punish the perpetrators, and that proper compensation be provided to the victim.
