47 Charges Including Various Trial Interventions... Former Supreme Court Justices Park Byeong-dae and Go Young-han Also Sentenced
Only 2 of 14 Current and Former Judges Indicted for Judicial Scandal Found Guilty
The first trial verdict for former Chief Justice Yang Seung-tae, who has been on trial for charges related to the 'judicial farm scandal' allegations, will be announced on the 26th. It has been 4 years and 11 months since former Chief Justice Yang was indicted.
Former Chief Justice Yang's trial lasted for a long period, spanning about 270 sessions. The number of witnesses the prosecution requested to directly question in court reached 211.
Within and outside the legal community, among the 14 former and current judges indicted on charges related to the judicial farm scandal, only two?former Planning and Coordination Officer Lee Min-geol of the Court Administration Office and former Supreme Court Sentencing Committee Standing Member Lee Gyu-jin?have been convicted so far. Therefore, the prevailing view is that it will be difficult for all 47 charges applied to former Chief Justice Yang, including various trial interventions, creation of a judicial blacklist, and slush fund formation, to be fully acknowledged.
The Criminal Division 35-1 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judges Lee Jong-min, Lim Jeong-taek, Min So-young) will hold the sentencing hearing at 2 p.m. on the same day for former Chief Justice Yang, who was indicted on charges including abuse of authority, as well as for former Court Administration Office Chiefs Park Byung-dae and former Supreme Court Justice Go Young-han, who served during Yang Seung-tae’s judiciary administration.
Earlier, at the sentencing hearing held in September last year, the prosecution requested a 7-year prison sentence for former Chief Justice Yang. They also asked the court to sentence former Justice Park and former Justice Go to 5 years and 4 years in prison, respectively.
When the prosecution indicted former Chief Justice Yang in February 2019, the indictment document spanned 296 pages of A4 paper and contained as many as 47 criminal charges.
According to the prosecution, former Chief Justice Yang is accused of intervening in trials such as the Japanese forced labor re-appeal case, the National Intelligence Service’s election interference case, and the former Unified Progressive Party member status confirmation lawsuit, in an attempt to gain help from the Park Geun-hye Blue House for introducing the appellate court.
Former Chief Justice Yang is also accused of creating the so-called ‘judiciary blacklist’ and giving personnel disadvantages to judges critical of judicial administration. Additionally, he is charged with leaking internal confidential information from the Constitutional Court and using it in a status competition with the Constitutional Court.
Furthermore, former Chief Justice Yang is accused of collecting investigation secrets and intervening in warrant trials to prevent the expansion of the investigation related to the ‘Jung Un-ho Gate,’ as well as pressuring the president of the Korean Bar Association, who opposed the introduction of the appellate court. The prosecution also believes that former Chief Justice Yang created a slush fund of 350 million won using the public relations office’s operating expenses.
Former Justice Park faces 33 charges, most of which overlap with those against former Chief Justice Yang. These include involvement in various trial interventions and participation in the creation and execution of the judiciary blacklist. Former Justice Park is also accused of repeatedly accessing the criminal justice information system without authorization to check the progress of cases at the request of a junior colleague. Former Justice Go, who succeeded Park as the head of the Court Administration Office, is charged with conspiring in 18 criminal acts including the judiciary blacklist, warrant trial intervention, and concealment of judicial misconduct.
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