Nepal’s ex-PM questioned over protest crackdown which led to overthrow

Nepal’s former prime minister KP Sharma Oli gave a statement on Sunday to a government commission investigating the deadly crackdown on a youth-led uprising that toppled his government in September.

Oli had previously said he would not appear before the commission, accusing it of lacking a “constitutional basis”.

“He has given a statement,” commission spokesperson Bigyan Raj Sharma told reporters, adding that it happened when officials reached Oli’s residence to deliver a summons for questioning.

It is unclear if further questioning will be conducted.

Seventy-seven people were killed during the unrest last year, triggered by a brief government ban on social media and building on public frustration after years of economic stagnation and allegations of entrenched political corruption.

On September 9, protests spread nationwide on their second day, and parliament and offices were set ablaze, prompting the government’s collapse.