▲ (From left) Judges Shin Kwang-ryeol, Jo Eui-yeon, and Sung Chang-ho
The three incumbent judges who were handed over to trial in the so-called 'judicial nongdan' case were acquitted by the Supreme Court following the first and second trials.
The 2nd part of the Supreme Court (Chief Judge Cheon Dae-yeop) dismissed the prosecution's appeal against the appeals of the judges Shin Kwang-ryeol (56), Jo Eui-yeon (55), and Seong Chang-ho (49), who were charged with leaking official secrets today (25th) The judgment of the trial court was affirmed.
Judge Shin and others were charged with collecting the prosecution's investigation status and future plans through the warrant case record and reporting it to the Court Administration to prevent the investigation aimed at judges at the time of 'Jung Woon-ho Gate' in 2016.
At that time, Chief Judge Shin Gwang-ryeol was the Chief Criminal Division Chief Judge of the Seoul Central District Court, and Judges Jo Eui-yeon and Sung Chang-ho were the judges in charge of warrants.
Contrary to the results of the prosecution's investigation in the 1st and 2nd trials, their organized collusion was not recognized, and the leaked contents did not belong to public secrets.
Regarding the report by Judge Shin to the Deputy Chief of Court Administration at the time of Lim Jong-heon, "Some of the content is beyond the allowable range" and was reported according to the usual route and procedure.”
The Supreme Court also said, "Unless special circumstances are recognized that may cause a risk to the functioning of the state, such as a public official who has received a secret is expected to disclose it to a third party regardless of the execution of his/her duties, the actions of the accused are not divulged. cannot be considered as applicable to He maintained his innocence.
A total of 14 former and current judges have been prosecuted for being involved in the allegation of judicial non-judgment, and their trials have been divided into seven cases.
At the heart of the allegations are former Chief Justice Yang Seung-tae and former deputy chief Lim, who are in the process of a first trial, former chief judge Lim Seong-geun, who was the first judge to be impeached in constitutional history, and former chief justice of Seoul Western District Lee Tae-jong (currently elder) accused of leaking the contents of the warrant. Judges) and most other former and current judges were acquitted up to the second trial.
Yoo Hae-yong, a former chief trial researcher at the Supreme Court, who was charged with conspiring with former Deputy Chief Lim and having a trial research officer to write a document to understand the progress of a specific trial (abuse of authority, and obstruction of the exercise of rights), was the first to be acquitted by the Supreme Court last month I have been judged.
The court's guilty verdicts include Lee Min-geol, a former head of the Planning and Coordination Office of the Court Administration Office, charged with attempting to disrupt a meeting of judges critical of judicial administration, and Lee Gyu-jin, a former standing member of the Supreme Court's sentencing committee, accused of involvement in a front-line trial.
The two people, who were sentenced to probation in the first trial, are in the process of appealing along with other former judges.
(Photo = Yonhap News)