U.S. Official Defends Mongolian Prison Washington Man Held In Fatal Shooting Treated Well, Embassy Official Says

A Washington state timber-company employee, awaiting trial in Mongolia for a fatal shooting of an employee, is being well treated in jail there, U.S. State Department officials said Wednesday.

George Risley, 56, of Woodland, Wash., had complained of conditions in letters to his wife, Judy.

But he is being treated as well as can be expected “under the conditions of a Mongolian jail,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., after a briefing today by Ronald J. Deutch, the No. 2 man at the U.S. Embassy in Mongolia.

Murray said Western-style food was being brought to Risley from a restaurant near the jail.

Risley - being held on the U.S. equivalent of murder charges - says he shot in self-defense.

In a letter to his wife, Risley said he feared for his life when he shot the victim. He said the worker had attacked him earlier on the day of the shooting, and was charging at him with a knife when Risley fired.

Risley is likely to be go to trial in March.

Risley was sent to Mongolia last March by his employer, Pacific America Commercial Co. of Seattle, to supervise the assembly of a sawmill at Moron and to train Mongolian workers.

Murray acknowledged Risley’s family members had raised concerns about his treatment and the failure of U.S. Embassy officials to look out for his interests.

The Seattle Times has published excerpts from Risley’s letters in which he alleges grisly prison conditions. On Dec. 9, he wrote that he had been fed a stew of vegetables and unclean horse meat cooked in grease and served to him in a mop bucket.

Deutch, deputy chief of mission at the embassy, refused to speak to reporters after his meeting with Murray today. But the administration official speaking on condition of anonymity said Risley’s treatment “has always been above board.