Lee Jae-myung Maximus Likened to Prosecutor Commodus
Lee Jun-seok Also Previously Compared Yoon to Commodus
Former Democratic Party leader Song Young-gil drew attention by likening the prosecution's request for an arrest warrant against Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung to "the cowardly Roman Emperor Commodus stabbing Maximus in the side with a knife." He borrowed a scene from the movie Gladiator to describe Lee's crisis situation, a metaphor similar to one previously used by former People Power Party leader Lee Jun-seok.
On the 18th, Song posted on his social media, "The initiative of judicial order should be taken from the prosecutors and handed over to the courts. This is about upholding the principle of non-detention trial and detention in court." He added, "Detaining someone before trial is no different from the Gladiator movie scene where the cowardly Roman Emperor Commodus stabs Maximus in the side with a knife beforehand and then challenges him to a duel."
In the movie Gladiator, Emperor Commodus stabs the protagonist gladiator Maximus in the side just before their duel, gaining an advantage. Song recently compared this scene to the current situation. In this context, 'Commodus' represents the prosecution, and 'Maximus' represents Lee. This metaphor emphasizes that the prosecution's request for an arrest warrant is a means to pressure Lee and the Democratic Party.
He stressed that the weapon to fight against the prosecution is the 'parliamentary immunity from arrest.' Song said, "All citizens of the Republic of Korea are entitled to a non-detention trial under the presumption of innocence. The parliamentary immunity from arrest is granted by the Constitution to members of the National Assembly to fight against the authoritarian power of the executive branch, and it is not something that individual lawmakers can waive." He added, "It is a weapon to fight against the president's immunity from prosecution and the prosecutors' de facto privilege of non-prosecution."
He further stated, "Waiving parliamentary immunity from arrest is effectively a declaration of surrender to the prosecutorial dictatorship." He questioned, "Isn't it shameful to request an arrest warrant on the grounds of evidence destruction or flight risk after conducting hundreds of searches but still lacking evidence?"
Meanwhile, former People Power Party leader Lee Jun-seok also used a similar metaphor to describe his own situation. Last year, on MBN's Pandora, he mentioned the movie Gladiator, saying, "Eventually, the gladiator gains public popularity, and to suppress that popularity, the emperor himself has no choice but to fight the gladiator." He added, "But since the emperor lacks confidence, he stabs the gladiator in the side with a knife before the match even begins." The dominant interpretation is that Lee compared himself to the protagonist Maximus and President Yoon Seok-youl to Emperor Commodus.
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