Amnesty International, Amnesty International Report 1997 - Mongolia, 1 January 1997, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6aa0438.html [accessed 17 September 2023]
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Prisoners in corrective labour institutions died from starvation. At least five death sentences were passed and at least two executions were carried out. In elections in June to the Great Hural (parliament), the Mongolian People's Revolutionary party, which had held power for the previous 75 years, was defeated by the Mongolian Democratic Union coalition, in which the senior partners were the National Democratic Party (NDP) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP). President Puntsalmaagiyn Ochirbat appointed Mendsayhany Enhsaihan of the NDP as Prime Minister, and SDP leader Radnaasurenbereliyn Gonchigdorj became Chairman (speaker) of the Great Hural. Reports continued to be received that inmates of corrective labour institutions were dying from starvation or from illnesses possibly caused or exacerbated by starvation (see Amnesty International Report 1996). As part of official moves to tackle the problem, the Minister of Justice stated in December that new legislation taking effect at the end of the year would end the requirement that prisoners should work for food, clothing and other provisions, the cost of which would henceforth be covered solely by the state. In October, in response to a request for clarification from the country's senior Buddhist abbot, the government confirmed that Buddhist monks were not exempt from performing compulsory military service. A 1992 law on military service required all men aged between 18 and 26 to perform military service for one year, and made no provision for a civilian alternative service for those who declared a conscientious objection. The death penalty remained in force. No official statistics were made available, but at least five people were sentenced to death and at least two executions were carried out. The true figures were almost certainly higher. In a written response received in March to Amnesty International's 1995 report, Mongolia: Prison inmates starve to death (see Amnesty International Report 1996), a senior official of the State Police Department rejected allegations that deliberate starvation was used to force confessions from people in pre-trial detention. Amnesty International continued to call for improvements in the prison system to end deaths by starvation. The organization urged the introduction of a civilian alternative to compulsory military service. It continued to call for abolition of the death penalty.
