A teenage male student under investigation on suspicion of exchanging body photos with a female student died on the same day police carried out a search and seizure, and the bereaved family filed a damages lawsuit against the state and police officers, saying he made an extreme choice due to the police's coercive investigation.
According to The Kyunghyang Shinmun on the 5th, the bereaved family of the deceased, identified as A, filed a damages suit worth 3 billion won in June against the state and two officers at the Seoul Songpa Police Station.
A was accused in Apr. last year under the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth against Sex Offenses on suspicion of exchanging body-related photos and videos via Instagram direct messages (DM) with an underage female student.
After that, five investigators from the Songpa Police Station executed a search and seizure warrant for A's home at around the morning of July 13 last year, targeting a mobile phone, laptop and other items. At the time, the parents were not home, and only A, a minor, and an older sister who had become an adult were reportedly present.
The bereaved family said investigators did not properly inform A of the right to remain silent before the parents arrived and applied psychological pressure by saying things such as "This is a huge wrongdoing" and "Do you not remember because you have so many offenses?"
A representative for the bereaved family said, "Making statements that presume culpability against a minor without a legal representative present violates the principle of due process and the duty to protect minors," adding it was "an unlawful investigation that instilled extreme fear and guilt in A."
A fell from the rooftop of an apartment at about 9:20 p.m. the same day the search and seizure took place and died.
The bereaved family said, "A organized the DM contents related to the complaint case and then died," arguing, "A causal relationship is recognized between the psychological pressure received during the investigation and the death."
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