Kh. Battulga of the Democratic Party claims his honour was offended by articles published in the Mongoliin Unen and Ugluunii sonin daily papers.
(Globe International/IFEX) – Member of Parliament Kh. Battulga from the Democratic Party has filed a civil lawsuit against Mongoliin Unen (Mongolian Truth) daily newspaper and Ugluunii sonin (Morning News). Mongoliin Unen is an official media outlet of the Mongolian People’s Party, previously known as the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party.
Kh.Battulga claimed that his honor and dignity were offended by an article titled “Kh.Battulga: Send others after N. Enkhbayar”, published in the Mongoliin Unen daily edition of April 25, 2012 issue No. 84 (22077) and “CAML company of Genco provides Oyu Tolgoi’s labor force from China”, published in the Ugluunii sonin daily edition of April 18, 2012, issue No. 075 (1412). Furthermore, he demanded that each newspaper apologize, publish a retraction and pay 100 million Mongolian tugrik (approx. US$77,000) in damages.
Mongoliin Unen believes that MP Kh.Battulga has rudely violated media freedom by disclaiming his words and threatening the media outlet with a lawsuit. This is not only an attack on the newspaper’s freedom. It is an attack on Mongolian media freedom before the upcoming parliamentary elections, to be held on June 28, 2012.
Globe International protests against the actions mentioned above as they may result in financial difficulty for the media outlet involved and could eventually become a form of economic censorship.
