(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim Bit-na = The court sentenced former General Affairs Secretary Yoon Jae-soon and People Power Party lawmaker Lim Jong-deuk, who were sent to trial on suspicion of personnel interference in the National Security Office during the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, to dismiss the indictment. This is because it is outside the scope of the investigation by the special prosecutor team.
This is the third case in which the indictment was dismissed among the cases indicted by the Special Prosecutor for Insurrection.
On the 21st, the Seoul Central District Court's Criminal Agreement Division 23 (Chief Judge Oh Se-yong) dismissed the indictment against former Secretary Yoon and Rep. Lim, who were indicted on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of the exercise of rights.
A decision to dismiss an indictment is a procedure that concludes a lawsuit without judging the substance of the case, such as when the indictment procedure violates the law.
Previously, the special investigation team requested a 5-year prison term for former Secretary Yoon and a 3-year prison sentence for Rep. Lim.
Former Secretary Yoon is accused of receiving a request from an acquaintance in the process of appointing an officer in charge of unmanned aerial strategy to be dispatched to the National Crisis Management Center under the National Security Office in September 2023, and having Representative Lim, who was the second deputy director of the National Security Office at the time, and then-Secretary of National Defense Lim Ki-hoon appoint a specific person. Rep. Lim was accused of conspiring with former Secretary Yoon.
The special prosecutor's team became aware of this incident while investigating suspicions of Pyongyang drone infiltration related to the December 3 martial law emergency, deemed it related, and indicted former Secretary Yoon and Rep. Lim without detention in December of last year.
However, the court ruled that this case did not fall under the subject of investigation stipulated by the Insurrection Special Prosecutor Act.
The intent is that the perpetrator of the crime is completely different from the Pyongyang drone incident, is not in an accomplice relationship with the suspects in the case, and there was no mutual exchange or contact.
It was also pointed out that the timing of the crime in the two cases was about 13 months different, and that it was difficult to find a connection in the purpose and means of the crime.
The special prosecutor's argument that the evidence in the two cases was common was also not accepted, as the items seized through a warrant issued to investigate suspicions of Pyongyang drones were also used as evidence in this case.
At the same time, the special prosecutor's team investigated a case for which it had no authority to investigate and filed an indictment, concluding that "the indictment itself was inappropriate."
However, in the case of a decision to dismiss the indictment, as the legitimate investigative agency can reinvestigate and file a new indictment, there is a possibility that other investigative agencies, such as the police, will take over the case from the Special Prosecutor for Insurrection and begin a reinvestigation.
Among the cases indicted by the Special Prosecutor for Insurrection, this is the third case to have the indictment dismissed, following former Justice Minister Park Sung-jae and former Minister of Government Legislation Lee Wan-gyu.
Last June, the first trial court sentenced former Minister Park to 25 years in prison on charges of rebellion, but dismissed the indictment on the charge of accepting First Lady Kim Kun-hee's request to silence the investigation, saying it was not the subject of the special prosecutor's investigation.
The same judgment was made regarding former Minister Lee, who was also indicted on charges of perjury to the National Assembly to the effect that there was no discussion of martial law at the 'safe house meeting' held immediately after the lifting of martial law.
It is the 9th case in total among the three major special prosecutors (civil war, Kim Kun-hee, and fallen marines), and the remaining six cases were all indicted by special prosecutor Kim Kun-hee.
The secretary of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, who was indicted on separate charges of bribery during the investigation into Ms. Kim Kun-hee's 'suspicion of preferential treatment for changing the Yangpyeong Expressway route', was sentenced to dismissal of all charges, which was confirmed by the Supreme Court in June.
The remaining defendants had their charges dismissed on some charges. The decision to dismiss the indictment on charges of embezzlement by Kim Ye-seong, known as 'Deacon Kim Geon-hee', and on charges of destruction of evidence by former Unification Church World Headquarters head Young-ho Yoon were also confirmed by the Supreme Court in July.
Mr. Kim's business partner, Cho Young-tak, CEO of IMS Mobility, upheld the decision to dismiss the indictment in the first trial on some charges, including embezzlement, in the appeal trial. The lawyer who was indicted by Geonjin Lawyer Jeon Seong-bae on charges of being involved in receiving money in exchange for favors from a company also received a ruling to dismiss some of the charges in the appeals court.
Unification Church President Hak Ja Han, who was put on trial for 'suspicion of collusion between politics and politics,' was sentenced to two years in prison in the first trial last August, but the indictment was dismissed on the grounds that the charges of ordering destruction of evidence and embezzlement of church funds were not subject to investigation under the Special Prosecutor Kim Kun-hee Act.
