Govruud Huuchinhuu

Govruud Huuchinhuu was a dissident writer and human rights-activist from Inner Mongolia. In January 2011, Huuchinhuu disappeared after leaving a Tongliao hospital in Inner Mongolia. After 2 years of enforced disappearance by the Chinese government, she was placed under house arrest. She died of cancer on 25 October 2016, still under round-the-clock monitoring until her last breath.

Career

Writing Huuchinhuu is known for authoring Elm with Stone Heart, a collection of essays and short stories with a central theme around the South Mongolian identity. This book is banned in the People's Republic of China,

Huuchinhuu's published Silent Rock in October 2007, even with being rejected of publication and without permission. Huuchinhuu stored copies of her book at her niece's and co-worker's homes, to prevent confiscation. After publication, police arrested Huuchinhuu's niece and confiscated all copies of Huuchinhuu's book.

Suppression Throughout her career, Huuchinhuu has been taken into custody on multiple occasions. During these detainments, the Ministry of Public Security has tried to force Huuchinhuu to relinquish her SDMA membership, which Huuchinhuu has refused to do so. In 2007, Huuchinhuu was given a five year ban from traveling overseas after being deemed a possible threat to China. where she had been treated for cancer. The case of Huuchinhuu and Hada had become a source of motivation for ethnic Mongolians worldwide, to bring more attention to the human rights abuses in Southern Mongolia. On March 19, 2012, a worldwide campaign to gather signatures to petition the release of Huuchinhuu and Hada was started in Ulaanbaatar by activists.

Trial In November 2012, the Tongliao Municipality People’s Court found Huuchinhuu guilty of leaking state secrets at a closed-door trial. Her sentence was delayed in contradiction to Article 111 of China's Criminal Law, which states that leaking state secrets is a crime with a sentence ranging from five years to life sentence. As of January 2015, Huuchimhuu remained under house arrest.

Criticism In 2015 Huuchinhuu released two statements to the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center (SMHRIC). One of her statements disclosed that the Tongliao Municipality Public Security Bureau froze her bank account, and violated her human rights.