'Judicial Scandal Allegations' Yang Seung-tae Former Chief Justice Appeal Decision... 'Illegal Filming' Hwang Ui-jo Second Trial Conclusion [This Week's Court Schedule]

[Financial News] This week (September 1st~5th), the court will proceed with the appeal decision trial of Yang Seung-tae, the former Chief Justice, who was tried for 'judicial scandal' allegations. Also, the appeal verdict for soccer player Hwang Ui-jo, who is accused of illegal filming of his partner, is scheduled.
According to the legal community on the 31st, the Seoul High Court Criminal Division 14-1 (Park Hye-seon, Oh Young-sang, Lim Jong-hyo High Court Judges) will hold the appeal decision trial on the 3rd of next month for former Chief Justice Yang and former Justices Park Byung-dae and Ko Young-han, who are accused of abuse of power and obstruction of exercise of rights.
The court initially intended to conclude the arguments at the 6th trial on the 20th but decided to hold one more session. In this decision trial, the prosecution's sentencing and the final arguments of the defense and the defendant will take place. Considering that sentencing usually occurs within one or two months after the decision, the verdict is expected to be delivered around October.
Former Chief Justice Yang and others are accused of intervening in various trials, including the introduction of the Supreme Court, forced labor trials, the National Teachers' Union's non-legal union case, the National Intelligence Service's election interference case, and the Unified Progressive Party's administrative lawsuit, for judicial reorganization. They are also accused of collecting internal information from the Constitutional Court through dispatched judges and classifying judges critical of judicial administration as 'problematic judges' to disadvantage them in personnel matters, with a total of 47 charges applied.
However, former Chief Justice Yang and the two former justices were acquitted of all charges in the first trial in January last year. The court at the time acknowledged some involvement of the Court Administration Office in trials but determined that the defendants did not have the authority to intervene in trials, making it impossible to establish the crime of abuse of power. For the crime of abuse of power to be recognized, a public official with authority must abuse that authority, but it was not proven that they had such authority.
Meanwhile, the appeal decision trial for former Court Administration Office Deputy Chief Lim Jong-heon, who was found guilty in the first trial for intervening in trials such as the forced labor victim compensation lawsuit and attempting to reduce academic meeting activities within the court, is also scheduled for the 23rd of next month.
The appeal verdict for soccer player Hwang Ui-jo, who was indicted for illegal filming, will be delivered on the 4th of next month. The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Appeal Division 1-3 (Cho Jeong-rae, Jin Hyun-ji, Ahn Hee-gil Chief Judges) will hold the appeal verdict session for Hwang, who was indicted for violating the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes (filming using cameras, etc.). Hwang was sentenced to one year in prison with a two-year suspended sentence in the first trial.
Hwang is accused of filming the private lives of two victims without consent or recording video calls from June to September 2022. The first trial court judged the crime to be serious due to the number of offenses but considered the fact that Hwang deposited 200 million won as a mitigating factor and sentenced him to a suspended sentence. Criminal deposit is a system where the perpetrator deposits money with the court for settlement, compensation, etc., for the victim's recovery, which can act as a mitigating factor in sentencing. The victims argued that such deposits should not be considered as mitigating factors, but the court accepted it.
This became a major issue in the appeal trial as well. The prosecution requested a four-year prison sentence at the appeal decision trial in July, asking not to consider the sudden deposit of 200 million won as a favorable factor. Meanwhile, Hwang, in his final statement, said, "I sincerely apologize for causing irreparable harm to the victims and causing social controversy with my reckless and wrong actions."
 



scottchoi15@fnnews.com Choi Eun-sol Reporter