Sexual violence allegations against MP Ts.Anandbazar dismissed

The Ulaanbaatar Prosecutor’s Office has dismissed lawmaker Ts.Anandbazar’s sexual violence case. Since April 2021, he has been investigated for claims of sexually harassing women.

When asked about the case, the Ulaanbaatar Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that the case against MP Ts.Anandbazar was dismissed. However, it is not clear on what grounds it was dismissed. According to unofficial sources, the victim may have retracted her statement.

Ts.Anandbazar has been suspended from the ruling party after being accused of sexually assaulting many women. The claims, which include rape, have sparked public backlash across the nation. On May 13, 2022, the Disciplinary Inspection Committee of the Mongolian People’s Party decided to temporarily suspend Ts.Anandbazar from the party as well as from its the party’s caucus in Parliament, pending investigation.

B.Sunderya and other women accused the lawmaker, who owns one of the largest fuel distributing companies in Mongolia, Sod Mongol Group, and Urgoo Cinema, of sexual harassment and rape.

On April 11, B.Sunderiya claimed she experienced sexual violence and abuse by “a well-known lawmaker” on social media. She filed a complaint with the General Police Department on April 14 regarding this allegation and reported that lawmaker Ts.Anandbazar violated her right to liberty and sexually harassed her. In connection with this report, women who used to work in organizations directed by lawmaker Ts.Anandbazar started speaking up about their experiences of being allegedly sexually harassed, abused and threatened by the same politician on social media.

B.Sunderiya reported that over 1,000 women contacted her about sexual harassment by Ts.Anandbazar. This evoked the #MeToo movement in Mongolia to demand the lawmaker be held accountable and protest sexual harassment and violence. Many women have now joined the movement, shared their experiences of sexual violence and called for women to be protected, for perpetrators to be held accountable and for the legal environment to be improved.