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During the presidential election last year, at the time of Lee Jae-myeong, a man in his 40s who wrote phrases such as 'genetic innocence' and 'swindler' on the banner of the Democratic Party candidate was sentenced to a fine in the first trial.



According to the legal community today (26th), the 11th division of the Criminal Agreement of the Seoul Western District Court (Judge Moon Byung-chan) sentenced Jin (44), who was charged with damaging the candidate banner (violation of the Public Official Election Act), to a fine of 500,000 won.



On February 15 last year, Mr. Jin wrote 'Fraud, Crime' in front of the phrase 'competent economic president' on a banner hanging on the roadside near the bus stop in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.



In the blanks, scribbles such as “Genetic innocence manipulation, this crime is guilty” and “swindler” were scrawled.



Mr. Jin argued at the trial, "Damage means 'to make it unusable by tearing it down'" and "it is difficult to see writing small letters as damaging the banner, and the act of writing the phrase is an opinion as a voter."



However, the judge said, “Even if it is not demolished, any act that loses or reduces the effectiveness of propaganda facilities by physical or other means falls under ‘damage’.” It was judged that it sufficiently harmed the effectiveness of the banner.”



"Whether a candidate has the qualifications for public office should be judged by a free election by the people," he said.



The court also did not accept Jin's request for adjudication on the constitutionality of Article 240, Paragraph 1 of the Public Official Election Act, which stipulates that damage to posters, banners, and other propaganda facilities will be punished by imprisonment for up to two years or a fine of up to 4 million won.



The request for constitutional adjudication is a system in which a request for adjudication is requested to the Constitutional Court by a party request or ex officio of the court when it is necessary to determine whether an applied law is unconstitutional before trial.



If the court decides on the request, the trial is automatically suspended until the result of the constitutionality trial is released.



The judge said, "It cannot be seen as violating the right to equality, the right to a fair trial, the right to know, etc. against the principle of excessive prohibition, or violating the principle of clarity of the principle of criminal justice."



Jin appealed on the day of sentencing.



(Photo = Yonhap News)