On the 12th, the first day of implementing the "trial petition," a constitutional complaint that can be filed when a court's trial infringes on basic rights, 16 trial petition cases had been filed.
The Constitutional Court said that as of 6 p.m. that day, a total of 16 trial petitions had been filed, including 11 electronic filings, 2 in-person filings, and 3 by mail.
◇In case No. 1, the petitioner was ordered deported for employing unauthorized workers while holding humanitarian stay status
Case No. 1 was filed at 12:10 a.m. The petitioner is a Syrian national, Mohamed, who filed a trial petition claiming a violation of basic rights after the Supreme Court in Jan. finalized the cancellation of the immigration authorities' deportation order and protection order. The respondent is the Supreme Court.
According to the public interest law center Advocates for Public Interest Law, which represents Mohamed, since 2006 he had traveled back and forth to Korea while purchasing parts in Korea and selling them in Syria. In 2011, the Syrian civil war broke out, and after losing his mother in the war and receiving a conscription order from the government, he entered Korea in June 2013.
After entering Korea, Mohamed applied for refugee recognition, but the Immigration Service granted him humanitarian stay status. For those not recognized as refugees who face a high risk of persecution if returned to their home country, the government grants humanitarian stay status, with residence permits issued in one-year increments. Economic activity is allowed domestically, but they are at a disadvantage compared with refugees in social security benefits.
Mohamed later lived in Korea with a spouse and four children and ran a used auto parts trading company in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province. In 2018, after his work authorization expired, he continued to operate the company without an extension and prepared false documents to invite 35 foreigners to Korea for the purpose of auto parts transactions. He also hired two Iraqis who were not permitted to work in Korea.
For this, Mohamed was sentenced to one year in prison and served the term. After completing the sentence, in Apr. 2024 he received a protection order for the execution of deportation and a deportation order, was detained at the Cheongju Immigration Detention Center, and was eventually forcibly deported.
To avoid deportation, he filed a lawsuit to cancel the deportation order, but it was dismissed in the first and second instances last year. On Jan. 8, the Supreme Court finalized the ruling.
Mohamed's side argues that the ruling infringed on constitutional rights to human dignity, the pursuit of happiness, and personal liberty. They also took issue with the deportation order listing the country of removal as "a third country other than the country of nationality." They argue that removal to an unsafe third country is prohibited under the Refugee Convention, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Convention against Torture, which have legal effect in the Republic of Korea, and that the Supreme Court misinterpreted these and dismissed the petition.
Under the amended Constitutional Court Act, a trial petition must be filed within 30 days from the date a judgment is finalized. Two months have passed since the final ruling in Mohamed's case. If the Constitutional Court dismisses the case on that ground, Mohamed's side plans to file a separate constitutional complaint again.
◇Case No. 2 was filed by the family of a fisherman abducted to the North who returned
The family of a fisherman who was abducted to the North and returned also filed a constitutional complaint to void the judgment at 12:16 a.m. that day. The late Kim Dal-su, a fisherman who was abducted and returned, was abducted twice in the East Sea while fishing on a boat in 1968 and 1972. After returning to Korea, Kim was suspected of being a spy, and in 1972 served one year and six months in prison.
Kim's family sought a retrial, and in Jan. 2023 he was acquitted. In Apr. of the same year, they filed for criminal compensation with the Gangneung Branch of the Chuncheon District Court. This is a system in which the state compensates a defendant whose acquittal is finalized for damages resulting from detention or trial.
Although the court must decide whether to compensate within six months from the filing date, it did so only in July 2024, one year and three months later.
The family filed a government compensation suit demanding delay interest for about nine months beyond the statutory deadline. The first and second instances ruled against them, saying the six-month decision deadline was merely directive, and the ruling was finalized on the 20th of last month when the family gave up their appeal.
The East Coast Abducted and Returned Fishermen Victims' Citizens' Group and the legal team for the government compensation suit over delayed criminal compensation filed a trial petition, saying, "Please determine whether the court's loss judgment, which did not recognize state responsibility despite a significant delay in trial well beyond the statutory deadline, violates the Constitution."
◇Yang Moon-seok received a sentence leading to loss of seat at the Supreme Court, but it is not yet final
Rep. Yang Moon-seok of the Democratic Party of Korea, who received a sentence at the Supreme Court that would cause the loss of his parliamentary seat over a "loan fraud" case arising from the purchase of an apartment in Jamwon-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, is considering filing a trial petition. Yang wrote on Facebook, "If we determine that the Supreme Court's ruling overlooked our family's basic rights, we will seek a decision from the Constitutional Court."
If Yang files a trial petition, a constitutional review will proceed to cancel the judgment after the sentence leading to loss of his seat is finalized. If he files for and wins an injunction to suspend the effect of the Supreme Court's final ruling, the effect of that ruling will be suspended until the Constitutional Court issues its decision on the merits.
The Supreme Court's Third Petty Bench (Presiding Justice Lee Heung-gu) that day affirmed the lower court's ruling sentencing Yang to one year and six months in prison, suspended for three years, for fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes. However, it quashed and remanded the lower court's ruling that imposed a fine of 1.5 million won for a violation of the Public Official Election Act, saying the lower court misunderstood the law.
A member of the National Assembly loses the right to run for office and thus the seat if a sentence of imprisonment or heavier punishment (including a suspended sentence) in an ordinary criminal case is finalized. In cases of violations of the Public Official Election Act, a fine of 100,000 won or more upon finalization voids the election.