On January 14, President Tsakhia Elbegdorj called for a moratorium on all executions in Mongolia. President Elbegdorj told the Mongolian parliament, “The majority of the world’s countries have chosen to abolish the death penalty. We should follow this path.” He vowed to pardon those on death row and suggested commuting the death sentences to a 30-year prison term. Amnesty International estimated that at least 5 people were executed in Mongolia in 2008 and nine were thought to be on death row as of July 2009. President Elbegdorj said, “Mongolia is a dignified country … and our citizens are dignified people. Therefore, I ask Mongolia to put behind us this death penalty which degrades our dignity to death. The road a democratic Mongolia has to take ought to be clean and bloodless.”
(J. Macartney, “Mongolia to abolish the death penalty,” Times Online, January 14, 2010). See also International.
