DALAI LAMA SUPPORTS ABOLITION OF DEATH PENALTY IN MONGOLIA

Ulaanbaatar, /MONTSAME/ His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, has sent a letter to President of Mongolia Tsakhia Elbegdorj expressing his support to the abolition of the death penalty in Mongolia. Full version of the message is as follows:
"I am very happy to learn of Your recent announcement of a moratorium on the death penalty and the call for its abolition in Mongolia. I have supported the abolition of the death penalty for many years and have written on many occasions to world leaders appealing to them to wave the death sentence in their countries. I have also endorsed appeals by organizations such as Amnesty International calling for the abolition of the death penalty internationally.
I fully support Your stand on this issue and hope that the Mongolian President will ratify it accordingly. In addition to the reasons You have given I feel that it is particularly appropriate that Mongolia, a country of Buddhist heritage, should abolish the death penalty. To take the life of a human being, which provides the precious opportunity for the being to change and develop is especially grave killing offenders does not solve the problem of crime. Only the promotion of kindness and compassion through education and through establishment of a sense of universal responsibility can, in the long run, improve society.
My overriding belief is that it is always possible even for criminals to improve and that by its very finality the death penalty contradicts this. Therefore, I support Your initative to bring an end to the use of the death penalty in Mongolia and I trust the Mongolian people will support You too."
S.Batbayar