UPDATE: March 31, 2003

Prisoner Ganhuyag is released
Four days after our alert of March 24, 2003 prisoner Ganhuyag Bazarragchaa was released suddenly. He was released in a heavy sickness and was not transferred to any hospital yet. No hospital has accepted him because of "lack of appropriate medical documentation" called as Form #36 which is to be provided by the prison hospital. Mr.Ganhuyag and Mr.Batbaatar , a prison officer, who brought Ganhuyag to the National center on tuberculosis were told by some doctors that "He is chronically sick with no hope of recovery, take this person away". Mr. Nyamdavaa Tsermaagiin, Liberty Center's client on our previous case, helped Mr.Ganhuyag to bring to him home situated in Tuv province, 45 kms south from the capital city. Liberty Center will continue watching whether Mr.Ganhuyag will be provided medical assistance.

March 24, 2003, Ulan-Bator, Mongolia

Prisoners Are Treated Inhumanly By Prison Officers
Mr.Nyamdavaa D., 31, released from prison few months ago has been interviewed by several Mongolian media recently informing of bad prison conditions and torture existing in Mongolian prisons. During his almost eight years of service he has stayed in three different pre-trial detention centers and seven different prisons.

Among those ten, Nyamdavaa named five as the worst. They are “Gants Hudag” detention center, Tuv province detention center, prison of Maanit , prison in Baga-nuur and prison of Tahir Soyot.

As to torture in “Gants Hudag” detention center, Liberty Center has spread series of alerts in August-December 2001 and you can see more information from our earlier cases.

Tuv province detention center is considered by Mongolian public as one of the worst pre-trial detention centers. Lawyers’ Center For Legal Reform Support, a human rights NGO, is nowadays advocating a case related with the Tuv province detention center arguing that a herdsman died because of inhuman treatment in Tuv province detention center.

The words on other three “worst”s are first publicized by Nyamdavaa’s interviews posted by newspapers “Humuus” (weekly), “Zuunii Medee”(daily), “Mongoliin Medee” (daily), and “Mongol turkh”(weekly). “I feel free to talk to journalists after I was released. I had been trying to attract public attention on bad prison conditions while I was in prison, but nobody heard me in there” said Mr.Nyamdavaa.

While being in prison “Tahir Soyot” he announced nine days hunger strike against unfair and inhuman treatment to prisoners by prison officers after several written appeals to improve the prison condition and meal. And he was beaten by lieutenant Tamir when he was very weak on the seventh day of a hunger strike in “Maanit”. During his service, he had been brought to the Central Prison Hospital nine times, out of which five were because of physical injury he had because prison officers beat him. The other occasions were his lung decease had out of bad labor condition in Maanit. According to Nyamdavaa, prisoners were never given any special clothes when they worked on chalk field and many suffer from lung decease like he does now.

“When we newcomers stood in front of a prison officer of Baga-nuur, he beat us while shouting out “let me introduce you our prison”” confessed Nyamdavaa to Mongoliin Medee. “Because prison officers were widely unfair and evidently harming our rights, prisoners were discussing to run out of the prison”. But they decided to fight in legal frame and tried to call prosecutor to the prison. “but we saw how difficult to try to change something while somebody is already in prison. Even prosecutors seem to be helpless and they just “wished” us to reach consensus among prisoners and prison officers” says Nyamdavaa to Liberty Center.

Mr.Nyamdavaa mentions a sad case about prisoner Ganhuyag Bazarragchaa who is, according to Nyamdavaa, in Central prison hospital and who is so ill that he might soon die in the prison. “He can’t eat and walk because he is too weak out of chronic hunger and pulmonary tuberculosis” Nyamdavaa said. Ganhuag was brought back to prison when he was released upon completion of his service in 2002 and directly from a hospital where he was treated after he was freed. Prison officers who arrested him back claimed that his service term was calculated wrongly i.e. he still has to serve in prison for some more time. But he doubts in the latter argument because Ganhuag himself had complained after his release that he was forced to serve longer than his due term. “Instead of going to civil court with his complaint, Ganhuyag was brought back to prison”.

Liberty Center is deeply concerned that many prisons and detention centers of Mongolia have bad condition and inhuman treatments against prisoners. It is an example of breach of Mongolian Constitution and Laws which state “It is prohibited to force a suspect/prisoner to give a statement, torture, treat in an inhuman and cruel manners and defame”.

“This system of unfair and inhuman treatment against prisoners seems to be very favored by something very powerful” says Mr.Nyamdavaa to Liberty Center. “I feel I am scratching a huge iron wall with my naked fingers when I try to criticize and change this system. I was already told that prison officers had conveyed me a word “be careful, you’ll be back”. Indeed, those who beat prisoners most have been advancing in their careers most of all. There are several officers who moved to leading positions among those who were beating me and my co-prisoners most inhumanly”.

Click here to see Liberty Center’s other alerts and reports on human rights situation in Mongolia.