“I don’t have enough reason to suspect guilt, but
There is no evidence of personal benefit or solicitation purpose.”
Lee Seong-yoon not guilty of ‘interfering with the exercise of rights’
檢 “I cannot accept the law… I will appeal”
Former White House secretary Lee Kwang-cheol (left) and Cha Gyu-geun, a former researcher at the Justice Research and Training Institute, were acquitted in the first trial of illegally obstructing former Vice Minister of Justice Kim Hak- his from leaving the country. . The court stated that the departure ban was illegal at the time, but considered that the legality of the purpose was recognized in light of the imminent re-investigation of former Vice Minister Kim.
On the 15th, the 27th Criminal Consensus Division (head Kim Ok-gon) of the Seoul Central District Court acquitted former secretary Lee and former investigator Cha, who were transferred to trial on charges of abuse of power and obstructing the exercise of rights. Prosecutor Lee Kyu-won, who was transferred to a joint trial, was found guilty only of charges such as creating public documents for imitation and received a suspended sentence of 4 months in prison.
When former Vice Minister Kim tried to leave the country at Incheon Airport on the night of March 22, 2019, when the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office was investigating former Vice Minister Kim in relation to the ‘suspicion of sexual entertainment in the villa’, they stopped him by banning emergency departure.
The emergency exit ban is a measure that is taken “when there is concern about the destruction of evidence and the escape of a person who has substantial reason to suspect that he has committed a crime equivalent to three years or more in prison. “
Regarding the act at the time, the judge ruled that it was “illegal because it did not meet the ‘substantial’ requirements to suspect that he had committed a crime.” At the same time, he was acquitted, saying, “The re-investigation was only to prevent the parties to the imminent big case from escaping abroad, and there is no evidence to show that the defendants acts for personal gain, solicitation, or the realization of unlawful purposes.”
Prosecutor Lee was found guilty of applying for approval to ban departure from the country by falsely declaring the qualifications of an agent for the then Seoul Eastern District Prosecutor’s Office and sending it to the Incheon International Airport Immigration Office. However, as the sentence was suspended, this prosecutor also faced no punishment.
Lee Seong-yoon, a researcher at the Judicial Research and Training Institute (head of the anti-corruption department of the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office at the time), who was charged with exerting pressure (abuse of authority and obstructing the exercise of rights) to obstruct the prosecution’s investigation into “illegal withdrawal of former Vice Minister Kim,” also acquitted that day. The judge ruled that “the evidence presented by the prosecutor cannot be considered to have proved sufficiently beyond a reasonable doubt that the research fellow abused his authority and exerted illegal and undue pressure (on the investigative team).”
The prosecution said, “In light of the relationship of evidence and legal principles, it is generally impossible to accept, so we will definitely correct it by appeal.”
Reporters Park Sang-yeon and Baek Min-kyung
