It has been confirmed that Lee Jeong-ryeol, a former presiding judge, was handed over to trial on charges of disclosing the personal information of the head of the group that accused Kim Hye-kyung, spouse of Gyeonggi Governor Lee Jae-myung.
According to the legal community, the prosecution indicted Lee without detention in May on charges of leaking business secrets.
This case was assigned to Chief Judge Choi Chang-hoon of the 8th Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court.
Attorney Lee, the representative lawyer of Dongan Law Firm, was indicted on charges of disclosing personal information of Mr. A, the representative of the group 'People in search of Hyegyeonggung Kim' (hereafter referred to as Gungchaksa) that accused Kim in December 2018.
In November 2018, while the investigation was in progress, the lawyer, who took charge of Mr. A's accusation against Mr. Kim, announced his intention to resign, saying, "I was rebuked by the CEO of Gungchasa for posting the contents of the prosecution investigation on Twitter."
When the prosecution dismissed Kim from the charges on December 11 of that year, the lawyer mentioned the SNS nickname of the CEO of Gungchaksa, who was his client, in an Internet broadcast and social networking service (SNS) article on the 12th and 13th of the same month.
In particular, it was investigated that the personal information of the lawyer was disclosed to the public by disclosing Mr. A's occupation and place of work in an SNS post.
The prosecution explained the reason for the indictment, saying, "Since the case reported by Mr. A had no choice but to receive a great backlash from the supporters of this branch, it was very important for Mr. A not to expose his identity to the outside."
In 2011, while serving as a judge, lawyer Lee received a written warning from the chief of the court for posting a parody of former President Lee Myung-bak, such as 'Kakasajajjamppong', on social media in 2011.
He was suspended for six months for disclosing the contents of the judge's agreement while hearing the case for reappointing a professor, which was the subject of the movie 'Broken Arrow' in 2012.
(Photo = Yonhap News)