In the appeals trial of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Seung-tae (2nd class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute), who was indicted for abuse of judicial administrative authority, prosecutors sought a seven-year prison sentence following a not guilty verdict in the first trial. This is the same sentence sought in the first trial.
During the deliberation trial conducted on the 3rd by the 14th Criminal Division of the Seoul High Court (Director General Judges Park Hye-sun, Oh Yong-sang, and Lim Jong-hyo), prosecutors requested the court to "sentence former Chief Justice Yang to seven years in prison." They sought five years for Park Byeong-dae and four years for Ko Young-han, who were also indicted.
Prosecutors noted that on this day, "the factual circumstances in the first trial were fragmented and isolated, leading to a mistaken verdict," and that "the court's own investigation results confirmed that many actions involved serious abuse of judicial administrative authority."
During his final statement that day, former Chief Justice Yang said, "The prosecution mobilized countless prosecutors to completely take internal court materials and rummaged through every corner of the court with a thorough investigation," adding that "to achieve their objectives, they distorted and exaggerated the truth to the extreme and misled the public."
He continued, "The first trial court dedicated considerable time and effort to find the substantive truth amidst the hundreds of thousands of pages of investigation records and litigation documents, along with ongoing witness testimonies, while the prosecution is claiming black is white and insulting us. This appeal should be dismissed."
The court has decided to hold the ruling date for this case on Nov. 26.
Former Chief Justice Yang and others were indicted in February 2019. While serving as Chief Justice from 2011 to 2017, Yang is accused of improperly interfering with various cases to achieve the Supreme Court's objectives, such as the establishment of a high appellate court, alongside former Justice Park and former Justice Ko, including ▲ claims for damages by victims of forced labor during Japanese colonization ▲ a case regarding the notification of the National Federation of Teachers' Associations being an illegal union ▲ the National Intelligence Service's election interference case ▲ and the confirmation lawsuit regarding the status of former Unified Progressive Party members.
Additionally, former Chief Justice Yang is charged with utilizing court officials dispatched to the Constitutional Court to collect internal information and for directing early ruling procedures on cases being handled redundantly with the Supreme Court to strengthen the Supreme Court's status, as well as classifying judges critical of judicial administration as 'troublesome judges' and imposing personnel disadvantages on them, and also considering pressures to hinder the activities of the International Human Rights Law Research Group and its sub-groups. A total of 47 charges were applied against former Chief Justice Yang.
The first trial court declared former Chief Justice Yang not guilty of all charges in January last year. The court acknowledged that some Supreme Court officials attempted to intervene in trials, but judged that there was no evidence that Yang directly participated or instructed such actions. Former Justices Ko and Park, who were also indicted, were found not guilty for the same reasons.
Earlier, prosecutors sought a seven-year prison sentence for former Chief Justice Yang in the first trial as well. The prosecution filed an appeal against the first trial's verdict.