Preventing Attendance at 5·18 Meeting... Former Executive Who Threw Punches Fined

A former executive of the 5·18 Injured Association was fined for using violence to prevent a person from attending a meeting of the 5·18 Detained and Injured Association (currently the Merit Association).

On the 29th, the Gwangju District Court Criminal Division 1 (Presiding Judge Ha Jong-min) announced that it sentenced Mr. A (62), a former executive of the 5·18 Injured Association, to a fine of 10 million won on charges of injury and property damage.

Mr. A was prosecuted for injuring Mr. B by hitting him on the head when Mr. B tried to attend a meeting of the 5·18 Detained and Injured Association in January last year.

In April of the same year, he was also charged with ordering the removal of city-owned panel partitions in an office at the Seo-gu 5·18 Memorial Culture Center.

He committed these acts in opposition to the integration of the offices of the Detained and Injured Association and the Injured Association.

Presiding Judge Ha said, "He committed the crime without showing remorse during the recidivism period, so his responsibility cannot be taken lightly."

However, he ruled, "Considering comprehensively that the victim's injuries were not severe, the property damage was restored to its original state, and the victim does not wish to press charges, the sentence is determined."

Mr. A was recently handed over to the prosecution on charges of sexually harassing and insulting the director of the May Mothers' House (violation of the Special Act on the Punishment of Sexual Crimes, etc.).