Mongolian Green movement leader Saruul Agvaandorj released

August 19th: Mongolian Green movement leader Saruul Agvaandorj released
Mon Nov 10, 2008 16:06


August 19th:
Mongolian Green movement leader Saruul Agvaandorj released

After 14 days of captivity, Mongolian Green Movement leader Saruul Agvaandorj was released after her arrest for participating in a peaceful silent protest against the government. Hundreds of Mongolians were detained for protesting the government for fraud in the June 29th general election.

On August 5th, approximately 20 protesters began a silent protest at Sukhbaatar Square in front of the Mongolian government and parliament in the nation’s capital of Ulan Bator. They wore a piece of paper taped over their mouths with the message “Release.” Agvaandorj and Arslan Gombosuren, Leader of the Just Society Front were arrested on the grounds that the sit-in was unlawful, without having obtained permission from the District Office. The demonstrators had issued a request to meet with the President, but the President’s office replied with a statement branding the demonstration as “hindering with the due government process of finding responsible parties to the post-election riots and therefore illegal.”

An international Green Party campaign for her release was called for by the Global Green Coordination, with requests that messages be directed to Mongolian embassies around the world. Aided in no small part by this international pressure, the two were released on August 19th after being held in a cell for two weeks with 11 or 12 other prisoners.

Upon her release Agvaandorj said “in Mongolia, we have a real Communist dictatorship like before 1989. Calling it the mafia is more accurate. Our Communists must win elections to make big money from foreign mining companies. And as a so-called democratic country, they can get financial support from the G-8 countries. It is similar to the situation of many African countries.”

Agvaandorj said Mongolian parliamentary elections have been manipulated every election since 1990 by the Mongolian Communist Party, which is also called the Mongolian Revolutionary Party. This year it led to widespread protest, to which the government responded with a four-day state of emergency and police crackdown. With plain-clothes police infiltrators inciting violence within the crowds, eight people were shot dead, six others lost their eyes and hundreds were detained.

“Many people could not understand why the police were shooting people in the eyes and killing them,” said Agvaandorj. “Why were these poor people, without any guns or knives, hunted like wild animals? Many of the arrested people did not know their rights. They were punished. They had to sign some documents because they were very afraid or injured. And the Communist leaders, including the President of Mongolia, didn’t want to release those political prisoners.” As a result, Agvaandorj and others began their peaceful protest.
“It was unbelievable that we were released,” said Agvaandor, who attended the May 2008 Global Greens Congress in Sгo Paulo, Brazil, upon her release. “Thank you all dear Greens. We were only fed bread and water for 14 days. Today someone told me that the police did not want to release us. We are not really free though. They are listening to my phone calls and more. We will continue to organize. Thank you and God bless you all!”

Нийтэлсэн :
Г.Арслан
|
Уншсан
(1459)
|