"Too Many Details" Criticized, Prosecution Revises Indictment
In relation to the so-called ‘President Yoon Seok-yeol defamation’ false report suspicion case, the prosecution accepted the court’s remarks and applied to amend the indictment by deleting the ‘Lee Jae-myung Communist Party frame’ and others.
On the 2nd, the prosecution announced that at the third preparatory hearing held under the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 21 (Chief Judge Heo Kyung-moo) regarding Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management major shareholder Kim Man-bae and former media union chairman Shin Hak-rim, they applied to amend the indictment by reducing the original 70-page document to about 50 pages.
The court had pointed out at the first preparatory hearing that the indictment contained too many indirect circumstances unrelated to the core issue of defamation against President Yoon. The court expressed doubts, saying that although it is a defamation case, it seemed like looking at an indictment for the crime of spreading false information under the Public Official Election Act.
In particular, the so-called 'Communist Party frame,' which claimed that Kim and others spread false information that “Lee Jae-myung took away profits that should have gone to private contractors for the benefit of Seongnam City,” to cover up the Daejang-dong development corruption, was pointed out as inappropriate. Reflecting this, the prosecution deleted this 'Communist Party frame' from the indictment. Additionally, the facts related to the Daejang-dong project, such as the ‘collusion with Lee Jae-myung, Mayor of Seongnam,’ were also significantly revised.
Regarding this, the court stated, “When recognizing this indictment as guilty, it feels like we are still within the scope of a Public Official Election Act violation case, as parts we would use are embedded in the indictment,” and “It also feels like the factual circumstances have not been fully organized.” The court added, “However, there is not enough time to mention everything during the preparatory hearing,” and “Since the indictment can be somewhat amended until the judge fully forms a conviction through documentary evidence examination, the court will stop at this stage.”
On the core issue of the trial, the court said, “It is true that then-presidential candidate Yoon Seok-yeol summoned a loan broker named Jo Woo-hyung as a witness and investigated, but the essential issue is whether the investigation was dismissed at this point; matters such as who bought the coffee are subsequent issues.” Regarding the defendant’s claim that the 165 million won exchanged with Kim was the payment for the book titled ‘Honmaekjido’ written by former chairman Shin, the court expressed doubt, saying, “As an ordinary person, it seems like mere gossip, and realistically, the amount is not convincing.”
The court suggested, “The prosecution has received statements from nearly 108 people as evidence, and the defendants want to separate their defenses and conduct witness examinations, but if this continues, the trial cannot start,” and “If the evidence will only lead to a wasteful discussion, please agree to dismiss it boldly.” The court decided to start the formal trial on the 24th.
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