Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/ Within his power stated in Section 1 of Article 26 of the Constitution of Mongolia, President of Mongolia Khaltmaagiin Battulga initiated a law on Amendment to the Law on the Legal Status of Judges.

The Cabinet discussed and supported the concept of the bills on Amendment to the Law on the Legal Status of Judges, Amendment to the Law on Prosecution, and Amendment to the Law on Anti-Corruption, initiated by the President. 

The corresponding parliamentary standing committee discussed and backed the bill on Amendment to the Law on the Legal Status of Judges and associated bills, transferring them to the Parliament.

Thus, President Battulga introduced the bills under consideration of the Parliament during its plenary session on March 26. 

President Battulga said: “If we assess the current circumstances that arose in relation to the security of the existence of Mongolia, socio-political security, and security of citizens’ rights and freedom, which are critical components of national security, the leaderships of institutions including the judiciary, the Prosecutor’s Office, the Independent Authority Against Corruption, the National Police Agency, and the General Intelligence Agency, that are in charge of investigating, overseeing, and judging criminal cases, are affiliated with political-economic interest groups and are part of a conspiracy system that shields the illegal activities of these groups. It especially concerns the officials who held positions of authority at these institutions between 2013-2017.

While the leaderships of the justice institutions are serving the officials who nominated and appointed them, fabricating criminal cases with a political agenda, and serving politicians, the executive officers of the institutions have become an unprofessional task force that follows instructions from “the higher-ups” instead of upholding the law and delays justice by neutralizing clear crimes.

Immorality of judicial and prosecuting officers and the pattern of discarding criminal actions have continually existed for many years and now have become normality. Furthermore, new evidences have surfaced, disclosing human rights violation by law enforcement officers with the illegal use of torture methods for forced confession, which is in serious violation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment to which Mongolia is a party. In accordance with the Convention, Mongolia is required to take effective legislative and administrative measures to abolish torture methods and devices and prevent any acts of torture.

The justice institutions have failed to expose and solve many crimes that pose serious threat to the rights and freedom of the citizens and independence and security of Mongolia, including the murder case of S.Zorig, case surrounding the 49 percent share ownership of the Erdenet Mining Corporation, case of a multi-million dollar debt where a loan was taken from the Standard Bank with guarantee issued by the Erdenet Mining Corporation, conspiracy case of attempted long-term transfer of the Tavan Tolgoi coal mine to foreigners, case of the ‘smoke-free stove’ project that failed to reduce air pollution despite of billions of tugriks spent where the concerned person and disbursed amount are plain to the sight, ‘MNT 60 billion’ case of selling government positions, case of MNT 20 billion spent during the 2017 presidential election, case concerning judges associated with the Baganuur Thermal Power Plant concession agreement and the Salkhit silver mine, case of reported confiscation of stolen paintings from the residence of a former president, and case of money transfer to offshore regions.

The Law on Civil Service of Mongolia has established a system where servants who failed to implement their duties in conformity with the law are released from their duties and held responsible. But the leadership of the justice institutions that have been unsuccessful in exposing the above-mentioned cases and holding the culprits accountable are hiding from responsibility under the legal protection of independence. In view that this could possibly leave negative impact on the independence and security of existence of Mongolia in the long term, I initiated the draft laws to make amendments to suspend judges and the Chief Justice, Prosecutor-General, Deputy Prosecutor-General, and General Director and Deputy General Director of the Independent Authority Against Corruption and release them from duties before the end of their terms if a recommendation is issued by the National Security Council. Suggestions made during the Cabinet meeting have been included.

In accordance with Article 25 of the Constitution of Mongolia which states that the Parliament may consider, at its initiative, any issue pertaining to domestic and foreign policies of the country, I ask You to discuss and adopt the bills in an urgent manner.”

Following the introduction of the bills, President Battulga, Chief of Staff to the President Z.Enkhbold, and Secretary of the National Security Council A.Gansukh answered questions of the members of the Parliament.