Prosecutors demand 2 years in prison… “Lies to the entire nation”
Lee Jae-myung: “The president I serve is an enemy, so he is abusing his power”
Law. Sentencing on November 15th… First of four trials ends with arguments
(Seoul = Newsis) Reporter Hwang Jun-seon = Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the final trial regarding the ‘false statements by the late Kim Moon-ki and Baek Hyun-dong and violation of the Public Official Election Act’ held at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul on the morning of the 20th. 2024.09.20. (email protected)
(Seoul = Newsis) Reporters Jang Han-ji, Park Hyeon-jun, and Lee So-heon = When the prosecution requested a two-year prison sentence for Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, on charges of spreading false information during the presidential election, he emphasized that the prosecution’s unreasonable indictment had resulted in an absurd false accusation.
Seoul Central District Court Criminal Agreement 34th Division (Presiding Judge Han Seong-jin) held a final hearing for Representative Lee, who was brought to trial on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act, on the 20th.
At trial that day, the prosecution demanded a two-year prison sentence for CEO Lee.
In his final statement, the representative said, “Former President Kim Dae-jung served a long life sentence for sedition,” and “I was also stabbed by a knife and was lucky to survive, but the prosecution created a case and indicted me.”
He continued, “The prosecutors abuse their power to hide and fabricate evidence, create a false case, send him to prison, and ultimately kill him politically, just because he is the enemy of the president they serve.” He appealed, “Am I an enemy of this country? Am I not a citizen?”
He also said, “The prosecution is abusing the state’s public power and the right to investigate and prosecute, targeting specific people, creating false crimes and making them suffer,” and “I, too, am extremely anxious. I don’t know what will happen. Is it really right to make it like this?”
He added, “Democracy, which we have built for a long time, is ultimately being damaged by the prosecution’s excessive abuse of power.” He also said, “I believe that the judiciary, the last bastion of human rights and democracy, will make rational judgments based on objective reality and the truth.”
The court set the sentencing date for November 15. This trial is the first of the four trials surrounding Representative Lee (violation of the Public Official Election Act, false testimony, Daejang-dong, Baekhyun-dong, Seongnam FC, Wirye New Town, remittance to North Korea) to conclude arguments.
The representative was brought to trial on charges of publishing false information about suspicions related to the Daejang-dong and Baekhyeon-dong development projects during broadcast interviews and state audits during the last presidential election.
The prosecution suspects that the representative made false statements about the late Kim Moon-ki, head of the Development Division 1 of Seongnam Urban Development Corporation, while he was the mayor of Seongnam. Director Kim was found dead by suicide in December 2021 during the prosecution’s investigation into Daejang-dong, and his relationship with the representative has become a subject of controversy.
When the representative appeared on a broadcast while he was a presidential candidate, he answered the host’s question of whether he knew Director Kim by saying, “I didn’t know while I was working. I was a low-ranking employee. I found out after I was indicted as the governor of Gyeonggi Province.” The prosecution is viewing this statement as a false statement made with the purpose of getting elected.
In addition, in the Gyeonggi Province state audit in October 2021, regarding the suspicion that a close associate of the representative was involved in the application for a change of use related to the business site, the representative responded, “The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport threatened to take issue with dereliction of duty, so there was no choice but to make the change,” but the prosecution is also viewing this as false.
In addition, the representative is also being tried on charges of instructing Kim Byeong-ryang, a former secretary to the mayor of Seongnam, to commit perjury by calling him several times in December 2018 while he was serving as the governor of Gyeonggi Province and while he was on trial for violating the Public Official Election Act by impersonating a prosecutor, and asking him to testify as he claimed.
The trial is expected to conclude around the 30th.
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Source: www.newsis.com
