An appeal trial for a former agency employee, Mr. A, who was handed over to prosecution on defamation charges after claiming he was verbally and physically abused by H.O.T. member Jang Woohyeok, will be held in September.
On the 23rd according to legal sources, the Seoul Western District Court, 2-1 Criminal Division (appeals) will hold the first hearing of the appeal on Sept. 10 for Mr. A, who is accused of violating the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection (defamation).
Mr. A claimed in 2022 on an online community that he was assaulted twice by Jang Woohyeok and that he had been subjected to verbal abuse and personal attacks on a regular basis. In response, Jang Woohyeok filed a defamation complaint saying the claims were untrue, and in 2020 he presented an assertion at a broadcaster that he, rather, had been assaulted by Mr. A.
In the first trial, the court acquitted Mr. A. The bench found Mr. A's testimony more credible than Jang Woohyeok's regarding the conflicting accounts of the 2020 incident.
The court also judged the disclosures about the assault to be in the public interest and said it was difficult to conclude beyond reasonable doubt that Mr. A knowingly stated false facts, and therefore acquitted him.
The prosecution appealed the ruling, and the first hearing of the appeal trial will take place in September.
[OSEN]