Mongolia: Appeal for death row pardon

Amnesty International issued the following urgent appeal on 30 July 2009 on behalf of Mongolian man facing execution for murder. It is extremely rare for details of capital cases in Mongolia to be made public, which greatly limits the ability of independent media to report on the death penalty in that country and of human rights activists to place pressure on the government.

Information about the death penalty in Mongolia is considered a state secret, even to the extent that the government does not confirm how executions are carried out.

[Note: This action appeal was updated on 14 October, after Buuveibaatar was granted a pardon. Read the update here.]

Urgent Action
Call for pardon for Mongolian on death row

Buuveibaatar, a 33-year-old Mongolian man, is facing execution for murder. He has exhausted all his appeals, and his life will only be spared if Mongolia's President grants him a pardon.

Buuveibaatar was sentenced to death by the Bayangol District Court, in the Mongolian capital, Ulaanbaatar, on 1 August 2008. He was found guilty of murdering his former girlfriend’s new boyfriend in January 2008. His father claims the crime was committed in self-defence.

The day after the murder, Buuveibaatar was arrested and taken to Bayangol District police station, where he was interrogated overnight without access to a lawyer. His father says that Buuveibaatar was beaten in police custody, and confessed to the crime during interrogation.

Buuveibaatar's death sentence has been upheld by Mongolia's Supreme Court. His family wrote to the former President of Mongolia to appeal for a pardon on 1 April 2009, and again to the newly elected President, Elbegdorj, on 2 July 2009. So far there has been no response to the appeals for a pardon.

Executions in Mongolia are carried out in secret. The families and lawyers of those on death row receive no prior notification of the execution. If Buuveibaatar's appeal for a pardon is turned down, he could be executed at any time.

PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in English, Mongolian or your own language:

• Calling on the President to grant an immediate pardon to Buuveibaatar;
• Calling for an immediate end to the practice of carrying out executions in secret;
• Urging the President to establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty, as provided by UN General Assembly resolution 62/149, adopted on 18 December 2007.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 10 SEPTEMBER 2009:

President
President Elbegdorj
Office of the President
State House
Ulaanbaatar-12
Mongolia
Fax: +976 51 26 1273
Salutation: Dear President

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The death penalty in Mongolia is considered a state secret; and no official statistics are made available relating to death sentences, executions or the number of people on death row. Families are not notified in advance when an execution will take place and the body is not returned to the family after execution. At least nine people are believed to be on death row in Mongolia.

UA: 206/09 Index: ASA 30/002/2009
Issue Date: 30 July 2009