(Globe International/IFEX) – On 27 February 2007, Member of Parliament Ts. Bataa insulted journalists at the press conference regarding the crash of an Mi-8 helicopter. On the day before the press conference, police staff prohibited journalists from photographing the helicopter that crashed in Bornuur Soum, Tuv Aimag, almost 100 kilometres northwest of the capital city […]
(Globe International/IFEX) – On 27 February 2007, Member of Parliament Ts. Bataa insulted journalists at the press conference regarding the crash of an Mi-8 helicopter. On the day before the press conference, police staff prohibited journalists from photographing the helicopter that crashed in Bornuur Soum, Tuv Aimag, almost 100 kilometres northwest of the capital city Ulaanbaatar.
On 25 February, a journalist from the daily newspaper “Unuudur”, Ms. G. Erdenetuya, came to the crash scene but a police officer guarding the scene covered her camera lens and prohibited her from taking any pictures.
At the press conference, Bataa verbally attacked journalists by saying: “Uneducated journalists and policemen are hampering our work for the cause of Mongolia”.
Mr. T. Sainjargal, head of the media centre at the General Police Department, commented on the helicopter accident: “There is talk that Ts. Batsaikhan, MP Ts. Bataa’s brother, was trying to shoot down a fox. The witnesses have actually confessed that they had been hunting. The helicopter passengers even changed their route”.
The helicopter was hired by Altanbond Co. Ltd, owned by MP Ts. Bataa, to take managers of Japanese and Chinese companies to a farm in Bulgan province, more than 318 kilometres northwest of the capital city. Newspapers reported that the accident took place because the helicopter descended so that the MP could hunt down a fox. The accident is under investigation.
There were 15 passengers on board, including foreign citizens. Fortunately, there were no casualties. The accident destroyed the Mongolian Ministry of Defence’s only Mi-8 helicopter.
Globe International has sent a notification letter to the MP, who has repeatedly insulted journalists, stating that he violated media legislation. As requested by Erdenetuya, Globe International refrained from sending a notification letter to the Police Department.
