On 9th July, a judge of the First Justice Court made a decision to hold Ms. S.Battulga, a Journalist of www.info.mn, and others in the “Gants Khudag” jail. Almost two years ago, S.Battulga had uploaded and released an article (from another source) about Ms.S.Bilegt, the director of “Noyod LLC” and a property dispute concerning the company. S Battulga herself had not written anything criticizing S.Bilegt. This is the second time S.Battulga has been in jail; in July 2014, she was also illegally imprisoned for 32 hours in connection with the same case.

Under the court decision, S.Battulga will be held in custody until 29th July 2015.

Yesterday (16th July), the Mongolian Union of Journalists held a press conference to defend the imprisonment of S.Battulga. The following statement was released: “This (the court decision) is an illegal infringement of free journalistic activity. All the materials which S.Battulga wrote concerning S.Bilegt came from an official source. Furthermore, the court’s decision to keep S.Battulga in jail before the issue has been resolved by due legal process is illegal”.

The Mongolian Union of Journalists and other supporters of Ms.Battulga are currently holding a peaceful demonstration outside the Court in the Bayanzurkh District of Ulaanbaatar.