Lee Jang-woo, a member of the People Power Party and Gyeongnam Provincial Assembly, who was indicted for violating the Public Official Election Act, was sentenced to a "disqualification from office" in the appellate court.
The 1st Criminal Division of the Changwon Branch of the Busan High Court (Presiding Judges Min Dal-gi, Kim Chang-yong, Kang Young-sun) overturned the original sentence of an 800,000 won fine and sentenced Lee to a 3 million won fine on the 16th in the appeal trial.
A, who acted as Lee’s aide during the local election period and was also prosecuted on the same charges, was sentenced to a 1 million won fine instead of the 500,000 won fine from the first trial.
According to the court, Lee was charged with paying A 1.5 million won as compensation for assisting with election campaigning during the 8th simultaneous local elections.
He was also accused of conducting pre-election campaigning by distributing business cards during the party primary before the official election campaign period and donating 200,000 won to a local mountaineering club.
The first trial court recognized that A’s role as an aide, including driving a vehicle and taking photos for election campaigning, constituted election-related work and found him guilty.
However, considering the relatively small amount and the lack of significant impact on the election results, the court sentenced a fine of 800,000 won, which allowed Lee to retain his position.
The court acquitted Lee of the pre-election campaigning and the donation to the mountaineering club due to insufficient evidence.
Under the Public Official Election Act, an elected public official who is sentenced to imprisonment or a fine of 1 million won or more for violating the Act is disqualified from holding office.
The appellate court overturned the original judgment and recognized all charges as guilty.
The court ruled that while the period from March 24 to April 1, 2022, could be seen as campaigning for the party primary, the period from April 9 to 21, when the primary voting rights were limited to party members, constituted election campaigning, thus confirming the charge of providing money.
It also found that the election campaigning occurred before the official election campaign period of May 19 to 31, 2022, for the 8th local elections.
The court acknowledged the evidence supporting the charge that Lee donated 200,000 won to the mountaineering club.
The appellate court stated, “After the party primary method was finalized, appealing for support for a specific candidate to the general public should be regarded as substantive election campaigning under the guise of a party primary campaign. Accordingly, based on photos taken by A, it can be evaluated that Lee conducted substantive election campaigning.”
It added, “Although the amount of benefits or donations provided related to the election campaign is not large, considering the legislative purpose of the Public Official Election Act to realize democracy through fair elections, strict punishment is necessary,” explaining the sentencing rationale.
After the sentencing, Lee met with reporters in front of the courtroom and said, “It is difficult to accept or agree with this,” expressing his intention to appeal to the Supreme Court.
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