Maintaining a Sentence Lower Than the Prosecutor's 7-Year Demand
"Considering the Principle of Proportionality of Crime and Punishment"
A former soldier who was prosecuted for forcing and threatening his wife to appear on adult broadcasts was sentenced to three years in prison in the appellate court as well. The sentence remained lower than the prosecution's demand.
Former soldier A, accused of confining his wife and forcing her to appear on adult broadcasts, is entering the Incheon District Court on February 4th to undergo a pre-arrest detention hearing (warrant review). [Photo by Yonhap News]
The 2-1 Criminal Appeals Division of the Incheon District Court (Chief Judge Lee Suhwan) on the 15th sentenced male defendant A (in his 30s), who was charged with threats and confinement, to three years in prison, the same as the first trial. The court stated, "The original trial considered various sentencing factors in determining the sentence. It does not appear that the original sentence exceeded the reasonable scope of discretion."
In the prosecution’s closing arguments last month during the appeal trial, they requested a seven-year prison sentence for A, the same as the original prosecution demand. Regarding this, the court explained the reason for maintaining the original sentence, saying, "The prosecutor appealed, claiming the first trial’s sentencing was unfair and argued that the victim’s extreme choice after suffering from being forced to appear on adult broadcasts should be reflected in the sentencing factors. However, the defendant was not charged with forcing the victim to appear on adult broadcasts. Increasing the sentence based on this would violate the principle of proportionality between crime and punishment, making it unfair."
A was arrested and prosecuted on charges including threatening his wife B (in her 30s) from 2021 until last year by demanding the filming of sexual videos and appearances on adult broadcasts. When B refused his demands, he confined her at home multiple times, and eventually, in December last year, B left a suicide note describing her suffering and passed away. A, who served as a professional soldier, is known to have been forcibly discharged due to this incident. Additionally, he faces charges for posting nude photos of women 98 times on the internet in 2011 (distribution of obscene materials under the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, etc.).
Earlier, B’s father claimed in court that "A forced my daughter to appear on adult broadcasts and threatened to expose her private life when she refused," but the prosecution dismissed the charge of forcing adult broadcast appearances. When the first trial sentenced A to a much lighter sentence than the prosecution’s demand, B’s father broke down outside the courtroom, sitting on the floor and crying, saying, "Kill me."
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