Choi In-cheol (left) and Jang Dong-ik, the victims of the `Nakdong Riverside Murder Case`, are coming out of the court holding hands after being acquitted at a retrial held at the Busan High Court on the morning of the 4th. [사진 = 연합뉴스] Two victims of the’Nakdong Riverside Murder Case’, who confessed to being unsuccessful by police torture and were accused of murder for 21 years, were acquitted at retrial.
The 1st Criminal Division of the Busan High Court (Presiding Judge Kwak Byeong-soo) was sentenced to life imprisonment on the 4th as a suspected robbery and murdered and sentenced to retrial appeal by Choi In-cheol (60) and Jang Dong-ik (63), who were released as model prisoners after serving 21 years The two men were acquitted of charges of murder and robbery.
The judge said, “The police arrest process was illegal without a warrant, and the acts of torture in the investigation process are recognized by combining the consistent statements of the victims and the statements of those around the time imprisoned.” He said he was not guilty of allegations of robbery because he did not have evidence.
In the Nakdong Riverside murder case, on January 4, 1990, a man and a woman who had been dating in a car were kidnapped by bullies, and a woman was raped and then killed, and a man was injured.
One year and ten months after the incident, Mr. Choi and Mr. Jang were arrested by the police as suspects of murder. After that, he was handed over to trial, sentenced to life imprisonment, served 21 years, and was released as a model prisoner in 2013. They claimed to have been tortured by the police since the prosecution’s investigation and made a false confession, but it was not accepted.
The two filed a retrial in the court in May 2017. In April 2019, the Great Swordsman’s Past History Committee investigated the case and announced the results that “the criminal was manipulated by torture”, and the debate on reconsideration quickly began. In January of last year, the Busan High Court apologized to the victims and held a retrial. The court found them not guilty on the day after a year and a month after the decision of the retrial.
President Moon Jae-in served as a defense for this case and received attention. President Moon once said in a broadcast program that dealt with this case in 2016, “A case where Han remains after working as a lawyer for 35 years.”
The court apologized to the defendants after the sentence. Deputy Judge Kwak Byeong-soo said, “I apologize for the fact that the court failed to serve as the last bastion of human rights, and the family and parties suffered.”
After the acquittal, the victims raised their voices, saying, “Why don’t you disclose the torture police at the time?” Choi said to the torture policeman, “How would you forgive such a person. Those people are evil. There is absolutely no forgiveness.”
Attorney Park Joon-young, who defended the two, said, “I am thinking of suing the police in court, the police who said they did not torture, and the police who are still pretending to be victims of the case with perjury and taking them as defendants in a lawsuit for national compensation.” .
[부산 = 박동민 기자]
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