There is a fierce backlash over Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae's order to review a bill punishing suspects who refuse to submit cell phone passwords.



Inside and outside the prosecutors' criticism, the idea is to not only go against human rights investigations, but also to prevent the exercise of the defense rights guaranteed by the Constitution.



Minister Chu said through the Ministry of Justice on the 12th, "If a suspect like a researcher Dong-hoon Han, a suspect in the Channel A case, hides his or her mobile phone password maliciously and interferes with the investigation, it is enforced under certain requirements, such as court orders, and enacted a law that sanctions against failure. "Please review."



The comment came when the Supreme Prosecutors' Office instructed the prosecution department to investigate the prosecution process of Deputy Prosecutor Jeong Jin-woong, Gwangju District Prosecutor's Office, and was interpreted as targeting a prosecutor.



In fact, the Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office, Criminal Division 1, saw the iPhone confiscated by a prosecutor in June as conclusive evidence of ``probate adhesion,'' and has been performing forensic work for five months, but has not been able to unlock the lock and has not made progress in the investigation.



The prosecution believes that Minister Chu has instructed the enactment of the law, as the responsibility of delaying the investigation lies with the prosecutor's office unless cooperating with the investigation.



Earlier, on the 12th of last month, during the state affairs audit of the Ministry of Justice, Minister Chu placed the responsibility for delaying the investigation to a prosecutor, saying, "It is a situation in which forensics cannot be performed because the password of the cell phone confiscated by the district prosecutor is not known."



The prosecutor, who is a party to this, protested that "the anti-constitutional idea to block the party's right to defend".



A prosecutor in charge of the Metropolitan Prosecutors' Office said, "As the current regime has the most due process and human rights investigations, it makes no sense to punish if you don't tell your mobile phone password," he said. "Even if a bill is in place, it is unlikely that it will pass the National Assembly." And criticized it.



Another objection was that Britain, which Minister Chu cited as a foreign legislative case, would issue a limited'crypto-decryption order' only in cases where there are multiple interests such as terrorism or important crimes.



Former Democratic Party lawmaker Geum Tae-seop also wrote on the Social Network Service (SNS), "I am ashamed of being a legal person" and "What is the difference from the law that says,'If I do not confess and force a confession, I will penalize'."



He then criticized, "Is it possible for a government that pursues progressive values ​​to violate the really important principles that have been accumulated over decades to ensure human rights?"



(Photo = Yonhap News)