Many people know that it is over, but the trial of former Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don is still ongoing.
In June, Mayor Oh was sentenced to three years in prison in the first trial and was detained in court, but he immediately appealed.
The second trial of the appeals court was held at the Busan High Court on the 13th.
But the trial was over in just 14 minutes.
Previously, the first trial of the appeals court held on September 15 lasted only 34 minutes.
The victim's lawyer said, "It was planned."
What happened on appeal?
Oh Keo-don's side, "Let's do a PTSD assessment again" request for an assessment
There is a reason the trial cannot but end sooner. This is because the results of the 'victim medical record re-evaluation' requested by Mayor Oh's lawyer did not come out. Even in the trial that day, 'suspicious' that the appraisal process, which normally takes about three months, has not even started yet. This is because the Korean Medical Association, which the court had commissioned for an evaluation, did not send a related request to the court. The court decided to check the progress and set the next date for November 3. Considering that the main issue of the appeals trial actually depends on the results of re-evaluation of medical records, the next trial is highly likely to end without any issues.
It started when Mayor Oh's lawyer requested a re-evaluation of the victim's medical record. In the first trial, Mayor Oh was found guilty of 'forced molestation and homicide', which caused mental injury to the victim, and was sentenced to three years in prison. This is because, if the victim is subjected to sexual assault and is simply raped, the sentence will be drastically reduced and probation may be sought. In simple terms, "Let's re-evaluate whether post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is real," is the argument of the mayor's lawyer Oh.
The problem is that the arrest period of the morning market will expire soon.
Mayor Oh was arrested at the time of the first trial sentence on June 29.
The sentence has not been decided yet, and the detention period for trial is up to six months for each level, so the detention period will expire at the end of December or early January at the latest.
Medical record appraisal will have to be done, and if it has not started yet, there is a high possibility that the mayor will be released before the results are released and will be tried without detention.
This is why the victim's side protests, saying, "I am deliberately delaying the trial."
"The re-evaluation of the victim's medical record itself is a serious secondary offense"
A bigger problem lies in the limitations and specificity of the medical record appraisal itself in this case. In this case, it is characteristic that the victim suffered a mental injury rather than a physical injury. Physical injuries can be assessed only by recording through X-rays, MRI, CT, and pictures of the affected area, but mental injuries are different. The victim was diagnosed with PTSD at two university hospitals, including Inje University Paik Hospital, and one general psychiatric hospital, through prolonged hospitalization and counseling treatment. Psychiatrists explain that it is very difficult to judge by looking at the records unless the medical records such as the counseling log are completely wrong.
In this case, there is an opinion that the victim should be re-hospitalized and treated for observation in order to receive proper evaluation. This is because, in a criminal trial, if the accused claims to be mentally or physically weak or mentally ill, he is imprisoned in a detention center and observed for about three months before making a diagnosis. It is unlikely and not even reasonable for the victim to risk hospitalization for re-evaluation. Some observers are predicting that there is a high possibility that a conclusion of 'undeterminable' will eventually be reached. This is why the victim's side asserts that "the request for appraisal itself is a very serious secondary perpetrator and a strategy to delay the trial."
In the process of requesting an appraisal, criticism was also raised about the inappropriate submission of data by Mayor Oh's attorney.
It is criticized that Mayor Oh submitted the victim's medical record to the court, omitting information unfavorable to the accused, such as a PTSD diagnosis, and excessively submitting investigation records.
The victim's lawyer protested, saying, "Is it an investigation record rather than a medical record?"
This is because if the data is passed on to an appraisal agency such as the Medical Association, the possibility of exposure of the victim's identity increases.
The trial goes on... Hearing postponed "because of vaccination"
Victims are concerned that there are problems with the trial process. The reason is that the request for an appraisal, which can actually influence the outcome of the trial, was adopted privately without a word from the victim or the prosecutor, and the date was postponed. To this, the court replied, "It takes a long time for the appraisal result to come out, so the appraisal entrusted in advance."
The fact that the reason for delaying the first trial of the appeals court, which was scheduled for August 18, to September was because of Mayor Oh's 'Corona 19 vaccination', was also newly revealed at the second trial. On the same day, the court said, "In the application for change of date submitted by the defendant, there is a content that the vaccine is scheduled to be vaccinated on the afternoon of August 18th." The defense attorney countered, "The trial was in the morning, but how can the afternoon vaccination be the reason for the delay?" It is also argued that this is not a deliberate delay in the trial.
Some of the Busan area's legal circles and women's circles also raise concerns about the newly appointed lawyer by the mayor Oh's side. Attorney Lee Young-wook, newly appointed in the appeals trial, is the husband of Supreme Court Justice Oh Kyung-mi, and is also the judge of the Busan High Court, Oh Hyun-gyu, who is in charge of the appeal, and the 25th class mate of the Judicial Research and Training Institute. Lee Jae-hee, head of the Busan Sexual Violence Counseling Center, who has supported victims all along, said, "We cannot predict the connection based on the background and history of the lawyer alone, but this case is a power-based sex crime case, as the court of first instance also ruled. "From the victim's point of view, they are threatened by a much greater power in constant motion."
Oh, former mayor's luxurious lawyers, in the first trial, "Victim PTSD, the reason for the need for prosecutorial reform"
It may be the mayor's legal right to appeal the trial and apply for reassessment of the victim's medical record. It is possible to receive a trial without detention after the period of detention has expired. However, Mayor Oh said in the closing argument of the first trial, "I will not hesitate to do anything for the victim to recover to a normal life." It is the opposite of the move shown by the defense attorney at the recent appeal.
The efforts of former Mayor Oh's attorney are, of course, tearful. It may be the defense attorney's duty to strive for the defendant's right to defend, whether detention has expired or probation. However, it remains to be seen whether this also meets the purpose of Mayor Oh's final pleading, the defendant. The defense attorney insisted on reassessing the victim's medical record and said the victim was unable to return to work because of the reason that the victim made 'efforts to return to work'. It is because of the lawyer's logic, "How can you go back to that place if you have panic disorder?" In the final pleading of the first trial, the defense counsel even argued that the victim's mental injury was "due to the excessive investigation and media by the prosecution" and "this is the reason why prosecutorial reform is necessary."
As the trial lengthened, it was reported that the rental period of the dormitory where the victim was temporarily staying would expire soon. They have to find another place to stay until the trial is over. The victim said about the expiration of Mayor Oh's detention period, "I never imagined it, but it's terrible." When asked why Even during the arrest, the lawyers constantly tried to reach an agreement, and I used all sorts of strategies, but I was scared because I was afraid of what I would do with me.”
"Power-type sex crimes based on a superior position"... Reasons to watch
During the interview, the victim said that her life these days is like a scene from the movie The Truman Show.
The scene where the main character, who lived an ordinary life, realizes that he was actually the main character of a 24-hour observation show, and goes out to sea in a boat to escape the set.
The story of the fact that, through waves the size of a house and strong storms one by one, and overcoming the hurdle of death, the ship barely managed to make its way, but in the end, the ship crashed and crashed into a wall.
He said he cried a lot to himself, thinking that he had tried to get better, but now that he had nowhere to run and no strength to break through the wall.
One of the biggest differences between power-based sex crimes and interpersonal sex crimes is the fact that there is not only the perpetrator and victim, but the power and background of the perpetrator with power, and the victim is on the other side.
The size of the force is proportional to the power of the perpetrator, and the victim must constantly fight another perpetrator or secondary perpetrator.
This fact has not changed since the day of the incident.
The perpetrator's aides insisted on an agreement, the politicians turned away from their promises, and Mayor Oh's lavish lawyers are still growing.
The court of first instance ruled that Mayor Oh's crime was "due to his superior position."
This is the reason why we have to watch this trial and the conclusion of this case until the end.
▶ [Report File] The suffering of Keo-don Oh's victim is ongoing
▶ [Report file] The promise made to Oh Keo-don during the election was not kept