Special Investigation Team for Late Sergeant Lee Yeram, Former Law Firm Lawyer Arrested on Charges of 'Evidence Forgery'

Special Investigation Team for Sergeant Lee Ye-ram. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] On the 15th, the special prosecution team led by An Mi-young (56, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 25), investigating the death of Air Force sexual violence victim Sergeant Lee Ye-ram, arrested lawyer A, formerly affiliated with a law firm, on charges of fabricating evidence related to the case.

Judge Park Hye-rim of the Seoul Central District Court, who presided over the warrant hearing for lawyer A, issued the arrest warrant in the afternoon, stating, "There is a risk of evidence destruction and flight," as requested by the special prosecution team.

Lawyer A is accused of fabricating the original file of the so-called 'Jeon Ik-su recording,' which was exposed by the Korea Military Human Rights Center in November last year and contained circumstances indicating that the former legal affairs director had directed a non-detention investigation of the sexual violence perpetrator (evidence fabrication).

At that time, the Korea Military Human Rights Center raised suspicions that lawyer A, through false reports, alleged that the former director directly led the non-detention investigation of the perpetrator in the early stages of the investigation into Sergeant Lee's sexual harassment case and had prior knowledge of the Ministry of National Defense prosecution team's search and seizure.

However, it was revealed that the recording was manipulated using a text-to-speech (TTS) device, which mechanically generated human speech sounds.

The special prosecution team had previously searched lawyer A's law firm office on the 9th, and on the 12th, while investigating him as a suspect, they made an emergency arrest and requested an arrest warrant.

At that time, the special prosecution team stated, "We confirmed the charges through testimonies from related parties and mechanical recordings obtained by scientific investigative techniques."

A special prosecution team official said, "We will conduct a strict investigation to clarify the circumstances of the crime and the presence of accomplices and then take appropriate action," adding, "Separately from this case, we will also strictly investigate illegal acts such as concealment, cover-up, coercion, dereliction of duty, and abuse of authority, which are subjects of the special prosecution investigation."