A Nepalese army officer has appeared at the Old Bailey charged with two counts of torture.

Colonel Kumar Lama, 46, of Hastings, is accused of inflicting severe pain or suffering while in an official capacity. The offences are said to have taken place between 15 April and 1 May 2005, and 15 April October 31 2005, at the Gorusinghe army barracks in, Kapilvastu, Nepal.

Lama, who has served in the Nepalese army since 1984, was in charge of the barracks at the time, during the Himalayan nation's decade-long Maoist insurgency.

The defendant, wearing a brown jumper and glasses, appeared via videolink from Belmarsh prison in Greenwich, south-east London, on Thursday. He sat quietly throughout the 40-minute preliminary hearing before Mr Justice Fulford.

A provisional date for the trial, expected to last between four and six weeks, was set for 5 June at Kingston crown court in London. A plea and case-management hearing will take place on 10 May.

The charges relate to two men, Janak Bahadur Raut and Karam Hussain, and were brought under Section 134 (subsection 1) of the Criminal Justice Act 1988.

Lama, who has indefinite leave to remain in the UK, had been serving as a UN peacekeeper in South Sudan shortly before his arrest last year.

Lama was remanded in custody after an application for bail was refused.