The court has once again ruled that the tablet PC obtained and reported by JTBC during the Park Geun-hye administration's state affairs manipulation investigation must be returned to Choi Seo-won (formerly Choi Soon-sil, 67).
On the 25th, the 8-2 Civil Appeal Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judges Lee Won-jung, Kim Yang-hoon, Yoon Woong-gi) ruled in favor of Choi in the lawsuit she filed against the state for the delivery of movable property, consistent with the first trial.
After the verdict, Choi's legal representative disclosed a handwritten final statement. In the statement, Choi said, "I was unable to attend the trial regarding the tablet PC disclosed by JTBC due to a long battle with illness that nearly cost me my life," and added, "The special prosecutor (investigating the state affairs manipulation) consistently asserted that I used this tablet PC, but it did not even have document functions. The claim that I carried it around and edited confidential Blue House documents deceived the public itself." "Park Young-soo, the special prosecutor currently imprisoned for corruption, has already lost legitimacy," and "Please return the tablet PC so that the truth about who manipulated it can be revealed," she also stated.
This tablet PC was obtained and reported by JTBC and then voluntarily submitted to investigative authorities. It was used as evidence in related trials and subsequently kept by the prosecution. Although Choi completely denied any connection, claiming the tablet PC was neither used nor owned by her, after the tablet PCs were used as evidence in court and a guilty verdict was confirmed, Choi filed a lawsuit in January last year requesting its return, asserting it was her property.
The first trial court ruled that the tablet PC must be returned to Choi. The government appealed, but the second trial also upheld the first trial's decision. In civil lawsuits, parties are not obligated to appear in court in person. However, on this day, Choi appeared in court herself, wearing a sky-blue prison uniform and using a wheelchair. She requested the court, "May I read my final statement?" but the court responded, "The arguments have concluded," and proceeded with the verdict without accepting her request.
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