Information has come that B.Khurts, Chief of
Administration at the National Security Council, who was  arrested in London on September 17 has so far
been presented in court three times — on September 17, 23, and 30. His next
appearance will be on October 20.

Both Germany and France have expressed a wish to
interrogate Khurts. The case against him relates to the abduction of Mongolian citizen
D. Enkhbat from a McDonald’s restaurant in Le Gavre in western France in May,
2003. Once in Mongolia, Enkhbat was put in prison but was released after some
months because of ill health. He died soon after.

Eyewitness accounts of the abduction appeared in French
newspapers soon after the event. The French Government took a very critical
view of such violation of human rights on French soil. President Nicolas Sarkozy
was the Minister of Internal Affairs in France then.

The case was reopened last summer when two French journalists
came to Ulaanbaatar to investigate the matter. They talked to relatives of
Enkhbat and also to human rights organizations in Mongolia, including Amnesty
International. They said the French Government was not much interested in
pursuing the case any longer as many documents have been lost and the
international ramifications can turn out to be uncomfortable.

However, since his arrest France has asked Britain for
custody of Khurts. The European Union takes a very strong view of human rights
violations and the progress of the case is likely to stain Mongolia’s reputation
abroad because of what a section of its powerful leaders did seven years ago,
without public knowledge or approval.