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SMHRIC Jan 17, 2011 New York
Mr. Batzangaa, a native of Southern (Inner) Mongolia and the former
principal of the Ordos Mongol-Tibetan Medical School, was tried by
the Ordos Municipality Dongsheng District People¡¯s Court, Inner
Mongolia Autonomous Region (IMAR), China, on January 15, 2011, under
the charge of ¡°crime of diverting a special fund¡±.
On October 3, 2009, Batzangaa was arrested at the front entrance of
the United Nations Refugee Agency office building in Ulaanbaatar,
capital of the independent country of Mongolia while seeking United
Nations political refugee status. Batzangaa¡¯s wife Ms. Bayanhuaar
and their 9-year old daughter Chilguun were also arrested in
Ulaanbaatar shortly afterwards. The family was deported back to
Ordos Municipality ( E Er Duo Si in Chinese), IMAR, China, on the
same day. The arrest and deportation were secretly carried out by
four Chinese police dispatches and more than ten Mongolian police
officers in a joint operation carried out by the Governments of
Mongolia and China.
Batzangaa went into exile in Mongolia to escape certain persecution
due to disputes with Chinese authorities over his efforts to
maintain the school¡¯s ethnic characteristics and his challenges to
the government¡¯s land appropriation policies.
According to the defense lawyer Mr. Huhbulag who was stopped from
leaving China for Mongolia last September by the Chinese authorities
for "possible threats to the state security", the trial took 11
hours from 8:00AM to 7:00 PM, January 15, 2011, under tight security
with more than 200 police and plain-clothes officers present. The
court room¡¯s seats were mainly occupied by security personnel and
court officials with fewer than 10 seats assigned to Batzangaa¡¯s
immediate relatives.
During the trial, the Ordos Municipality People¡¯s Procuratorate
accused Batzangaa of ¡°diverting a special fund¡± to other purposes.
Both Batzangaa and his attorney Huhbulag challenged the allegation
and pleaded not guilty, stating that ¡°the charge lacks evidence and
is inconsistent with the facts.¡± The People¡¯s Procuratorate
recommended that the court sentence Batzangaa to 3 years in jail.
According to Huhbulag, the court decision can take two months to be
released. Currently Batzangaa is free on bail pending the decision.
There has been strong criticism from Southern Mongolian exile
communities and citizens of Mongolia, condemning the Government of
Mongolia for allowing and cooperating with the Chinese police to
carry out the arrest and deportation of Batzangaa, a UN refugee
applicant, on Mongolian soil.
Human rights groups and civil societies of Mongolia were
particularly outraged by Mongolia¡¯s ¡°violation of her Constitution
and other laws as well as international human rights conventions¡±.
Commenting on the news stories of Batzangaa¡¯s arrest and
deportation, Mongolian netizens questioned the Government of
Mongolia, ¡°are we a sovereign country or a province of China?¡±
For more information on the case please see our previous reports:
http://smhric.org/news_265.htm
http://smhric.org/news_266.htm
http://smhric.org/news_267.htm
Here are the phone numbers of the officials involved handling the
case:
Mr. Li, Chief Justice of Dongsheng District Court: 13604774746
Mr. Liu, Head of Dongsheng Disctrict Public Security Bureau:
13904770110
Head of Ordos Municipality Public Security Bureau: 13704772201
Ms. Ao, Presiding Judge: 13394771234
http://www.smhric.org/Latest_A.htm
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