The court executed a 15-day confinement order against the attorney for former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun, who was sentenced for causing a disturbance in the courtroom.
According to legal sources on the 3rd, the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 33 (presiding judge Lee Jin-gwan, senior judge) executed the confinement order for attorney Lee Ha-sang that day. The execution took place immediately after the conclusion of the trial of the former Minister, held before the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 34 (presiding judge Han Sung-jin, senior judge). Lee was placed in custody at the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang.
Confinement is a measure by which a person who violates courtroom order is detained in a prison or detention center for a set period by order of the presiding judge.
Attorneys Lee and Kwon Woo-hyun, at a Dec. 19 hearing last year in the case involving former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, asked that the former Minister Kim, who appeared as a witness, be allowed to have them sit next to him as persons in a relationship of trust, but the request was denied. The two then continued to cause a disturbance by refusing to leave the gallery and protesting despite the court's warnings, and the court sentenced them to 15 days of confinement for violating courtroom order.
Attorney Kwon, who was also sentenced to confinement, did not appear in court that day, so the order was not executed.