Court Orders State to Compensate Victims of the 'Samrye Nara Super Incident'

Not Guilty Verdict in the Samrye Nara Supermarket Trio Robbery and Manslaughter Case. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] A court has ruled that the state and the prosecutor who mishandled the investigation at the time must pay over 1.5 billion won in compensation to the young men and their families who were wrongfully imprisoned in the so-called 'Samnye Nara Supermarket Robbery and Homicide Case.'

On the 28th, the Civil Division 37 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Park Seokgeun) partially ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in a damages lawsuit filed by Lim, Choi, and Kang?three men who were convicted as the real culprits, served prison sentences, were released, and later acquitted in a retrial?against the state and the prosecutor who investigated the case at the time. The court ordered the state to pay approximately 477 million won to Lim, 327 million won to Choi, and 371 million won to Kang, and to pay between 10 million and 130 million won to each of the victims' families. Part of the total compensation was also ordered to be borne by the prosecutor involved in the investigation at the time.

Lim (20 at the time), Choi (19), and Kang (19) were prosecuted and sentenced to prison terms ranging from 3 to 6 years for breaking into 'Nara Supermarket' in Samnye-eup, Wanju-gun, Jeonbuk Province, on February 6, 1999, and taping the mouth of a 76-year-old grandmother named Yoo, who subsequently died. After completing their sentences, they filed for a retrial in March 2015, claiming they had falsely confessed due to police coercion, and were acquitted in 2016.

Meanwhile, Park Junhyung, the lawyer representing Lim and others in this trial, is known for handling the retrial of the 8th case of Lee Chun-jae in 2019, which resulted in the acquittal of Yoon, who was wrongfully imprisoned. On the 13th, he also represented Choi in a damages lawsuit related to the 'Yakchon Five-way Intersection Murder Case' that occurred in Iksan, Jeonbuk, in 2000, successfully securing compensation.