MP TEMUUJIN DISCUSSES LEGAL REFORM IN MONGOLIA

C O N F I D E N T I A L ULAANBAATAR 000240


STATE FOR EAP/CM

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/19/2034
TAGS: PGOV PREL MG
SUBJECT: MP TEMUUJIN DISCUSSES LEGAL REFORM IN MONGOLIA

Classified By: Political Chief Andrew K. Covington, Reasons 1.4 (b)
and (d)



1. (C) Summary: Poloff met with Democratic Party (DP) MP
Temuujin on August 14 to discuss the recent amnesty law and
legal reform efforts in Mongolia. Temuujin was frank in his
assessment of the legal reform environment, noting that
reform efforts originating in Parliament rarely get out of
committee and criticizing President Elbegdorj's choice of
legal advisor. Temuujin, 38, is a lawyer and was a leading
legal scholar at the National University of Mongolia prior to
entering politics. He was elected to Parliament from the
Bayangol District of Ulaanbaatar in June 2008. End Summary.

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TEMUUJIN ON LEGAL REFORM EFFORTS IN MONGOLIA
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2. (C) Temuujin was eager to discuss legal reform in Mongolia
with poloff. The motivated and soft-spoken MP offered
critiques and expressed candid frustrations with the present
state of affairs, while also suggesting remedies. With his
audience in mind, Temuujin noted that many judges receive
training through USAID, JICA, and other international
partners and donor organizations and return to Mongolia with
fresh ideas. However, Temuujin said the outdated Mongolian
legal system limits the degree to which participants in such
exchanges are able to leverage and implement what they have
learned. He specified that much of the structure of the
legal system has not evolved since the socialist era, meaning
the system lacks the flexibility to absorb and pass on new
ideas. Temuujin strongly believes the Mongolian legal system
is still not sufficiently reformed and would therefore
benefit more from trainer-training programs than from
end-user training programs, so that ideas can more freely
enter the system rather than be trapped with end-users unable
to apply them.


3. (C) Temuujin has initiated several draft laws on judicial
reform, in particular to make the judiciary more independent
from both Parliament and the GOM, as well as to limit
opportunities for corruption of judges. However, none of
these drafts has gotten out of committee, leading Temuujin to
believe that the better approach is to work with the Ministry
of Justice and Home Affairs on reform of the system.


4. (SBU) Temuujin stated the legal system has to be more
"horizontal," meaning there must be a true system of appeals,
as opposed to the current "vertical" orientation, in which
there is more of a "chain of command" from higher to lower
courts.


5. (SBU) The MP comes from an academic background and is
critical of the tendency, in his opinion, of foreign
assistance programs to seek participants for exchange and
training programs from within government bureaucracy (where
he believes the knowledge is pigeonholed),as opposed to
participants from academia that have a natural venue in which
to impart what they have learned to the next generation of
legal professionals. He noted there is often no venue for
those returning from exchange programs to share what they
have learned with their colleagues. Moreover, he is
concerned that certain colleagues (but not necessarily the
majority) have a tendency to hoard knowledge as a leg up on
competition within their organization.


6. (SBU) Temuujin noted the names of two Mongolian think tank
NGOs involved in legal reform that he recommended as active
and forward-leaning: the Open Academy and the "Libertar"
Foundation. He said the two NGOs' board members are mostly
younger teachers at several law schools in Ulaanbaatar, as
opposed to the boards of other legal NGOs that often consist
of established legal professionals with careers rooted firmly
in the socialist era -- and therefore not inclined to push
change.

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ON THE AMNESTY LAW
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7. (C) Regarding the July 1 unrest following the 2008
parliamentary elections, Temuujin believes many of those
arrested were innocent bystanders in the wrong place at the
wrong time and should have been released well before
Parliament passed President Elbegdorj's amnesty law earlier
this month. On the other hand, he also believes many
government officials who misused their positions were
incorrectly freed in the same stroke. (Note: In a subsequent
conversation with the Independent Authority Against
Corruption (IAAC),poloff confirmed that certain cases under
IAAC investigation have been dismissed in accordance with the
amnesty law, primarily because of the provision in the law
that allowed certain first-time non-violent offenders to be
pardoned. End Note.)

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ON ELBEGDORJ'S LEGAL ADVISOR
--------------


8. (C) Temuujin has publicly commended Elbegdorj for taking a
big political risk in proposing to reform the judiciary, but
Temuujin was nonetheless frank during his conversation with
poloff in expressing disappointment with Elbegdorj's
selection of G. Ganzorig as Legal Advisor to the President.
Ganzorig is a former Supreme Court Justice who left Mongolia
in 1993 and subsequently spent 15 years in the United States
pursuing a legal career. Ganzorig returned to Mongolia in
July 2009 to fill this position at Elbegdorj's request.
Temuujin believes Ganzorig will not prioritize legal reform
efforts, despite what Temuujin sees as the Mongolian public's
demand for deep-rooted reforms. Temuujin believes turnover
of 70 to 80 percent of the Supreme Court Justices would be a
good starting point for establishing an independent judiciary
and for reducing corruption in general.


9. (C) As noted in para 3, Temuujin believes Parliament does
not have the will to engage in legal reform at present and
that the appointment of Ganzorig closes a channel for reform
that could have been pursued through the office of the
President of Mongolia. Specifically, Temuujin believes
Ganzorig's interest lies more in helping his old boss, former
Supreme Court Chief Justice Ganbat, get his old job back.
Temuujin stated that replacing current Supreme Court Chief
Justice Batdelger with Ganbat will mean swapping one
non-reformer for another and would be part of a wider program
to shift power from Batdelger and his supporters to the
Ganbat faction within the Court. Note that both Batdelger
and Ganbat are from the Mongolian People's Revolutionary
Party (MPRP),and that Ganzorig has no party affiliation.
Therefore, Ganzorig's interest in replacing Batdelger with
Ganbat is more a matter of personal loyalty. Ganbat was
instrumental in getting Ganzorig onto the Supreme Court and
in facilitating Ganzorig's opportunities in the United
States.

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ON JOURNALISTS AND REFORM
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10. (SBU) Temuujin stated that programs such as exchanges
through the House Democracy Assistance Commission (HDAC),the
Fulbright, and similar are very important, but that training
for journalists who deal with legislative affairs (with a
focus on ethics and professionalism) to be of equal
importance and underrepresented in the exchange programs that
the United Stated and other countries provide.


MINTON