It was belatedly revealed that during the appeal trial of Lee Seong-yoon, a researcher at the Legal Research and Training Institute (Chief of the High Prosecutors’ Office), the prosecution applied for a change in the indictment to the effect that “Researcher Lee pressured the Anyang Branch leadership and interfered with the investigation into suspicions of illegal withdrawals by Kim Hak-eui, former Vice Minister of Justice.”
According to the legal community, the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office, which is in charge of maintaining the indictment in the appellate trial for the researcher Lee’s abuse of power, applied for a change in the indictment to the 5th Criminal Division of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judge Seo Seung-ryeol) at the end of November last year, and the court approved the request.
Lee Seong-yoon, a researcher at the Legal Research and Training Institute, who was indicted on charges of interfering with the investigation into the suspicion of ‘illegal departure ban for former Vice Minister of Justice Kim Hak-eui’ and was found not guilty in the first trial, is making his statement by appearing at the first appellate trial in July. /News 1
Researcher Lee was indicted on charges of applying external pressure to stop the investigation in June 2019, when he was the head of the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office’s anti-corruption force department, when the Anyang Branch reported that it would investigate prosecutor Lee Gyu-won, who was a member of the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office fact-finding team at the time, in connection with the suspicion of illegally banning former Vice Minister Kim from leaving the country. However, the first trial declared the researcher not guilty, saying there was insufficient evidence to conclude that he abused his authority and put illegal pressure on the prosecutors of the Anyang branch office.
When this paper checked the changed indictment through the office of People Power Party lawmaker Yoo Sang-beom, the prosecution did not change the facts of the crime in the researcher’s indictment, but only modified the final word. In the original indictment, it was stated that “(Researcher Lee), through the Anyang Branch Command, prevented the prosecutors of the investigation team from proceeding with the investigation into illegal acts during the emergency departure ban process,” but in the revised indictment, “(Researcher Lee) used the Anyang Branch Command to pressure the Anyang Branch Command.” It was changed to “interfering with the exercise of investigative rights by investigative officials at the Anyang Branch Office by preventing prosecutors from the investigation team from proceeding with investigations into illegal acts during the emergency departure ban process.” ‘Through the command’ was changed to ‘pressuring the command’, and the following was added: ‘It interfered with the investigation team’s exercise of its investigative authority.’
This is interpreted to be due to the fact that the first trial court did not recognize the ‘pressure’ of the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office Anti-Corruption Department on the Anyang Branch Command. In Research Fellow Lee’s first trial, Anyang Branch leadership, including former Anyang Branch Director Lee Hyun-cheol and former Anyang Branch Deputy Director Bae Yong-won, appeared as witnesses and testified, “I was told by the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office Anti-Corruption Department not to conduct an investigation.” However, instead of these claims, the first trial accepted researcher Lee’s claim that “there was no external pressure on the investigation.” At the time, the court ruled to the effect that “the prosecution’s failure to investigate illegal withdrawals at the time was a combination of the lack of communication between the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Anti-Corruption Department and the Anyang Branch Office and the arbitrary judgment of the Anyang Branch Command.”
The prosecution, which appealed against the first trial ruling, said in the first trial of the appellate trial, “The most unconvincing part of the first trial judgment is that in the process of conflict between the consistent statements of officials from the Anyang branch office on the victim side and the statements of the anti-corruption department on the defendants, only the defendants’ statements were taken and facts were made. “It has been confirmed,” he said. Afterwards, the prosecution again requested former district chief Lee and others as witnesses, and former district chief Lee again stated in court that he “felt external pressure from the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office on the investigation.”
The prosecution also reinforced the circumstances that the final investigation result report was prepared and submitted against the will of the Anyang Branch investigation team. Previously, it was said, “(Researcher Lee) was made to write and submit a final investigation result report against the will of the prosecutors of the Anyang Branch investigation team,” but in the new indictment, “A report was made against the will of Anyang Branch Chief Lee Hyun-cheol, Deputy Chief Prosecutor Bae Yong-won, and Chief Prosecutor Jang Jun-hee.” “The specific target was specified. A prosecution official said, “It appears that the anti-corruption department of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office at the time was more specific in accusing them of crushing the Anyang branch command and negating the investigation.”
Meanwhile, the prosecution sentenced this researcher to two years in prison in the appeal decision on the 5th of last month. The sentencing date will be held on the 25th of this month.
2024-01-03 05:04:25
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