Accused of “being evil forces” and “provoking troubles,” 11 Mongolian herders from the Urad Front Banner in the western Southern Mongolia Bayannuur League have been tried recently for defending their land from Chinese mining companies. According to the herders’ families, the protracted trial has so far taken 93 days as of last Friday and is expected to conclude this week. The herders have been detained multiple times since their initial arrests in August 2020, with total detainments ranging from 37 days to 18 months without legal due process. Sick and elderly herders have either been taken into custody in wheelchairs or handcuffed and shackled to hospital beds.

Led by 78-year old Mr. Jiranhoyor, the group of Mongolian herders includes Ms. Sumyaa, Mr. Sumbur, Mr. Daichin, Mr. Munkhsumbur, Mr. Nars, Mr. Naranbat, Mr. Hurwaa, Ms. Wei Meili, Mr. Hong Wuyi and Mr. Aldart. They have defended their grazing lands from illegal occupation and environmental destruction by multiple Chinese mining companies, including Huo Tuo Mine LLC, for more than a decade.

In August 2020, the Bayannuur League Public Security Bureau dispatched more than 100 fully armed riot police and arrested 11 herders.

The Bayannuur League Public Security Bureau posted a notice on August 13, 2020, stating that the “preliminary evidence shows that these gangs entrenched in Urad Middle Banner and surrounding areas and have long engaged in evil deeds and illegal activities, seriously sabotaging the local economy, disturbing public orders, and creating adverse social effects.” In an apparent effort to persecute the herders, the notice also demanded the public cooperate with the authorities to provide evidence of the herders’ “crimes.”

Yet a written statement from the persecuted herders’ families states that the local herders “have lived on the grassland of Urad Front Banner and maintained pastoralist way of life for generations.” The statement continued, “witnessing the destruction of grassland, Jiranhoyor, former head of the Taigiin-Enger Gachaa of Bayanhuaa Township has led the local herders to defend their legal rights. Jiranhoyor has appealed to the relevant authorities multiple times. The destruction of grassland has never been resolved. Now, these 11 herders became ‘criminals’ overnight.”

“All my father and these herders did was nothing but protest the mining companies for illegally occupying and destroying our grazing lands,” Ms. Urnaa, daughter of Mr. Jiranhoyor, told the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center over the phone. “As mining companies beating up and abusing local herders become commonplace, herders from our community often gathered together to block the mining trucks. These peaceful and legal activities are now labeled as ‘crimes.’”

“My father was already diagnosed with bladder cancer while he was arrested on August 13, 2020,” Ms. Urnaa told the SMHRIC. “He had to undergo a number of surgeries and chemotherapy before he was arrested again for the second time in 2021.”

“In total, my father was detained for more than six months until he was taken to the emergency room by an ambulance, and my mother Sumyaa was detained for more than 17 months for signing the petition against the mining company,” Urnaa said.

Pictures and footage from Urnaa reveal that Mr. Sumbur—who has been suffering from serious rheumatoid arthritis—was handcuffed and shackled on a hospital bed during the detention.

“With a serious condition of rheumatoid arthritis for two decades, Sumbur was not even able to walk and hold a tea cup by himself. But he was taken away in a wheelchair by the police,” Urnaa added.

According to a release notice issued by the Urad Front Banner Detention Center, Mr. Naranbat, the longest-serving detainee, was released on bail pending trial on December 1, 2022. He had already been detained for more than 18 months without trial at the time.

Lacking sufficient evidence and legal basis, the local public prosecution authorities revised the indictment four times over four years. “The latest revision took place on July 25, 2024, during the most recent trial. In response to this, defense attorneys say [that] ‘the arbitrary nature of the judicial system is beyond comprehension,’” according to the written materials the SMHRIC received from the defendants’ families.

“Bribed by mining companies, the police and relevant authorities have long characterized herders as ‘evil forces and gangs,’” Jiranhoyor’s family members stated in the written complaint.

As the government of China accelerates its resource extraction from Southern Mongolia, mining companies from all over the China proper—including energy giants like Shenhua and Changqing—and thousands of ninja miners rushed into rural Mongolian territories to open mines without the consent of local communities. As a result, a large-scale protest erupted across Southern Mongolia in 2011, sparked by the brutal killing of a Mongolian herder by a Chinese coal-hauling truck. Thousands of herders were arrested and detained, and their leaders have been imprisoned.