Members of a progressive organization who occupied the office of former lawmaker Na Kyung-won, the floor leader of the Liberty Korea Party in 2019, were sentenced to suspended prison terms.
According to the legal community on the 26th, Judge Kim Dong-jin of the Seoul Southern District Court Criminal Division 4 recently sentenced Yoon Mo (33), a member of the Korean University Students Progressive Union (hereinafter Daejin-yeon), who was indicted for trespassing, to six months in prison with a two-year suspension. Eleven other members received four-month prison sentences with one-year suspensions, and the remaining eight, recognized as minor participants, were each fined between 1 million and 2 million won.
The court stated, "They forcibly obstructed the legislative activities of a specific lawmaker through physical and violent means, harming the fundamental order of a democratic nation." However, the absence of violence or property damage was considered a mitigating factor in sentencing.
Yoon and others unlawfully entered former lawmaker Na's office in the National Assembly Members' Office Building around 10 a.m. on April 12, 2019, and staged a sit-in protest for about 20 minutes. They took issue with Na's remark at a party supreme council meeting in March of the same year, where she said, "Everyone will remember how deeply divided the people were after liberation due to the Special Committee for Anti-National Activities." Yoon and others claimed in court that the National Assembly is a public place and that they entered the office to request a meeting with former lawmaker Na, but the court did not accept this argument.
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