Earning My Keep

Quite busy today as I met with the Deputy Prosecutor General in charge of administrating prosecutions for the country of Mongolia and discussed proposed changes in the criminal code which, if passed, will eliminate criminal libel and also shift the burden of proof in criminal cases to the prosecutor and defendants will no longer be required to prove their innocence. See the first pic above.  I had the Minister of Justice last year pledge his support to these changes and today I was shown a draft reflecting same.  Naturally, he anticipates as much as two years work to get this through Parliament.  But their legislative branch cannot amend the bill; they must pass or send it back for re-study in its entirety. He believes that it will ultimately pass.  If so, there will be a favorable sea change as to libel law in Mongolia.

Next week the President of Mongolia will give press conferences to in which he advocates its passage.  I would think that the average member of the public and the lawyers would support these changes.

The second pic is a painting of the vast Gobi Desert with highest peak of the Khangal Mountains at 4008 meters with its constant cap of ice and snow in the background.  This painting sits in the lobby of the Prosecutor General.To me it captures the beauty and the utter isolation of those who travel through this region. The province is called Zavkan in western Mongolia and the guidebooks tell you that almost no one ever traverses this part of the Gobi.  No kidding. So enjoy the painting as I suspect that neither you nor I will ever be found there.

Tomorrow I lecture at the Journalism School advising future journalists how to avoid a libel charge or lawsuit.  I will explain that if they follow my advice, they will avoid the calamities of the law and be free of worry over a published story.  Of course if they do not follow my advice then they can repent in less than leisure. And so it goes...