Prosecutors demanded Monday a three-year jail time period for opposition chief Lee Jae-myung on fees of suborning a former mayoral secretary to make false courtroom testimony in his favor in 2018.
Lee, chair of the primary opposition Democratic Occasion (DP), was indicted final 12 months on fees of demanding a secretary of former Seongnam Mayor Kim Byung-ryang to present false testimony in a 2018 election legislation violation case involving him.
The courtroom will ship the decision on Nov. 25.
The case entails Lee’s conviction in 2004 for illegally impersonating a prosecutor in collusion with a TV information producer who was gathering info on then Seongnam Mayor Kim in reference to a preferential house distribution scandal. Lee was fined 1.5 million received ($1,145) within the case.
Throughout a 2018 TV debate whereas working for Gyeonggi governor, he claimed the case was primarily based on false accusations. He was later charged with making false statements through the election however was lastly acquitted in 2020.
Final 12 months, prosecutors charged Lee with urging a secretary of the previous Seongnam mayor by way of phone calls to testify in his favor through the ongoing courtroom trial in December 2018 on election falsehood. Prosecutors suspect the secretary’s subsequent testimony, aligned with Lee’s request, led to his acquittal by the Supreme Courtroom.
The prosecution mentioned Lee deserves a heavy punishment, given the seriousness of the alleged crime that “disrupts the judicial order and causes confusion in society.”
“Perjury is a severe crime that hinders the invention of the reality, disrupts the authorized system and creates societal confusion,” it mentioned within the closing assertion. “By repeatedly mendacity about essential points that considerably form voters’ rational choices and inspiring perjury to hide the lies, the core of democracy has been deeply undermined.”
The prosecution accused Lee of “meticulously” executing his plan, similar to “giving a scholar the solutions for an ideal rating.”
“This strategy is never seen in comparable circumstances,” it mentioned.
Showing on the Seoul Central District Courtroom for the trial, Lee accused the prosecution of manipulating fees and proof towards him and of making an attempt to throttle the opposition celebration, saying “such violence ought to by no means be forgiven.”
“Prosecutors wielding courtroom warrants are turning the nation right into a dictatorship, many years after the army regimes are gone,” Lee mentioned, surrounded by senior celebration officers who got here to the courtroom in help of him.
Lee has constantly denied the fees, accusing prosecutors of false indictment, regardless that the secretary, charged with perjury, largely admitted to having falsely testified at his request.
If Lee receives a finalized jail sentence or a harsher penalty on this case, he could be barred from working for public workplace whereas the sentence is in impact.
The case is one in every of 4 trials Lee is presently dealing with in reference to numerous fees, together with bribery and election falsehood associated to a high-profile property improvement corruption scandal.
Earlier this month, prosecutors demanded a two-year jail time period for Lee in an election falsehood case, a sentence, if finalized, that might strip him of his parliamentary seat and droop his rights to run for public workplace for the subsequent 5 years.
Sentencing in that case is scheduled for Nov. 15. (Yonhap)
