A member of the Seoul University Students' Progressive Association (Daeginyeon), who was put on trial on charges of disrupting campaign activities at a rally for Oh Se-hoon, then a Future United Party (now People Power Party) candidate, during the 21st general election held in 2020, was sentenced to a fine.
The Seoul Eastern District Court Criminal Agreement Division 11 (Presiding Judge Kang Min-ho) on the 3rd sentenced a person surnamed Gu, 32, indicted on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act, to a fine of 2.5 million won.
Gu is accused of staging a picket protest around Gwangjin District ahead of the March 2020 general election, taking issue with the fact that candidate Oh gave a total of 1.2 million won to five people, including the security guards and cleaners of the apartment where he resides, during a holiday.
At the time, the Gwangjin District Election Commission said the picket protest obstructing the campaign constituted illegal electioneering. Accordingly, police booked the Daeginyeon members, and later prosecutors indicted Gu and others on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act.
The court said, "They pushed ahead with campaign activities with the intent to cause the candidate's defeat," and added, "The conduct after the offense is not good, as they consistently acted uncooperatively with investigative authorities."
Meanwhile, 19 others who were brought to trial on the same charges were also sentenced on the 27th of last month to fines ranging from 1 million won to 6 million won.