Suspicion 'Mastermind' Im Jongheon, Former Deputy Director of the Court Administration, Sentenced to 2 Years in Prison and 3 Years Probation
No Current or Former Judges Recognized for Trial Manipulation... Only 3 Former Judges Found Guilty
The prosecution's investigation into the abuse of judicial administrative power by former Chief Justice Yang Seung-tae, defined as 'judicial farming,' has come to an end with a rather disappointing result, close to failure. Most of the former and current judges involved in the allegations, including former Chief Justice Yang Seung-tae, were acquitted in the first to third trials, and even Lim Jong-heon, the former Deputy Chief of the Judicial Administration Office, who was identified as the main figure in the allegations, was partially found guilty but was not sentenced to imprisonment.
Im Jong-heon, former Deputy Director of the Court Administration Office, who has been identified as a key figure in the so-called 'judicial farming' allegations, is heading to the courtroom to attend the first trial sentencing hearing held on the 5th at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jo Yong-jun jun21@
On the 6th, inside and outside the legal community, there are criticisms that the prosecution may have abused its authority by indicting former and current judges involved in the judicial farming allegations on charges of crimes that lack substance, as not a single defendant was found guilty of 'trial trading.' With the conclusion of Lim's trial, all first trials related to the judicial farming allegations have been completed.
The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 36-1 (Presiding Judges Kim Hyun-soon and Cho Seung-woo) sentenced former Deputy Chief Lim, who was indicted on charges including abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights, to two years in prison with a three-year probation on the previous day.
This is the heaviest sentence among the 14 former and current judges who were tried for involvement in the judicial farming allegations. Excluding former Deputy Chief Lim, the former judges found guilty are Lee Min-geol, former Director of Planning and Coordination at the Judicial Administration Office, and Lee Gyu-jin, former standing member of the Sentencing Commission, who were sentenced to a fine of 15 million won and one year in prison with two years probation respectively in the second trial and are currently undergoing appeal trials.
The investigation into the judicial farming allegations began when Judge Lee Tan-hee, who was working at the Judicial Administration Office (currently a member of the Democratic Party), raised the suspicions. Subsequently, the 'Kim Myung-soo Supreme Court' formed a special investigation team and conducted an internal investigation, announcing results confirming the judicial farming allegations, which gave momentum to the investigation. Although the prosecution achieved the historic first detention of a Supreme Court Chief Justice, it lost face as most defendants were acquitted at the trial stage.
In particular, the so-called trial trading, which the prosecution strongly insisted was the core of the allegations during the investigation and trial process, was not recognized as guilty at all. The court handling former Deputy Chief Lim's case unusually criticized the prosecution's charges, stating, "The trial trading allegations raised by the prosecution during the investigation disappeared during the trial."
The court stated, "The serious allegations regarding judicial farming or trial trading, which were deeply imprinted on the public's mind through the media at the early stages of the investigation, mostly disappeared during the investigation involving numerous prosecutors and the indictment exceeding 300 pages. The indictment mainly retained abuse of authority charges alleging that inappropriate reports were ordered to be prepared by judicial officers to realize trial trading, but most of these did not constitute crimes."
Furthermore, the court explained, "The defendant was identified as the core of judicial farming from the early stages of the investigation and was subjected to long-term internal and external criticism and censure. He also suffered a 'social punishment' by spending time and costs to clear many charges over nearly seven years. The fact that he was detained for over 500 days and partially paid for his crimes was considered a favorable factor in sentencing."
Regarding the allegations of involvement in creating and executing a 'judiciary blacklist' to impose personnel disadvantages on specific judges, which is considered a core suspicion in this case, the court judged that "it does not constitute abuse of authority, or even if it partially does, it cannot be seen as ordering judicial officers to perform duties they were not obligated to do."
A lawyer A, a former deputy prosecutor, said, "From the national farming scandal to judicial farming, investigations have been conducted under the 'abuse of authority' framework, but cases where guilt was recognized in court are rare. The judicial farming investigation has only deepened the conflict between the courts and the prosecution."
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office stated the day after the first trial verdict for former Deputy Chief Lim, "We will carefully review and analyze the factual findings and legal judgments of the verdict to decide whether to appeal."
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