Capital punishment in Mongolia

A Mongolian woman condemned to die of starvation, c. 1913

Capital punishment has been abolished in Mongolia since 2012, following a previous two-year moratorium.^[1]

Historical use

At the time of abolition, there were five crimes liable to the death penalty: "terrorist acts committed for political purposes; terrorist acts against representatives of a foreign State for political purposes; sabotage; premeditated murder committed with aggravating circumstances; and rape with aggravating circumstances". Only men aged between 18 and 60 at the time of the crime may have been executed; women being not subject to the death penalty.^[2][3] The government has since abolished the death penalty for all crimes.^[2]

Amnesty International reported that Mongolia, like China, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore, practiced executions in secrecy.^[4][5] The family of the prisoner would not be informed of the date of the execution, nor the place of burial.^[2] There were 45 people who were sentenced to death in 2007, but the number of executions was not revealed by the authorities.^[5] Five people are thought to have been executed in 2008.^[2]

Methods

The method of execution was a bullet to the neck.^[2]

Moratorium

In June 2009, Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, an abolitionist, was elected President of Mongolia. He began using his prerogative of pardon to prevent the application of the death penalty.^[2][6] On January 14, 2010, he announced that he would, henceforth, systematically use his prerogative to pardon all persons sentenced to death. He stated that most countries in the world had abolished the death penalty, and that Mongolia should follow their example; he suggested that it be replaced with a thirty-year prison sentence. The decision was controversial; when Elbegdorj announced it in Parliament, a significant number of represesentatives chose not to give the applause customarily due after a presidential speech.^[2]

Le Monde, however, noted that President Elbegdorj "may find it a lot more difficult" to have the death penalty abolished in law, adding that the death penalty might be applied again if Elbegdorj failed to be reelected.^[2] Elbegdorj won the 2013 presidential election on 26 June 2013^[7][8] and his second presidential term is running from 10 July 2013 to June or July 2017.

Abolition

On January 5, 2012, "a large majority of MPs" adopted a bill that aims to abolish the death penalty. After two years under the official moratorium, the State Great Khural formally signed the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.^[9] This makes Mongolia abolitionist because under Article 1, paragraphs 1 and 2, of the Covenant, “No one within the jurisdiction of a State Party to the present Protocol shall be executed,” and “Each State Party shall take all necessary measures to abolish the death penalty within its jurisdiction.”

References