‘False remarks of the fatherland’s son’ Choi Kang-wook’s “Lee Jae-myung is not guilty, I am not guilty.

Rep. Choi Kang-wook of the Open Democratic Party, who was handed over to the trial for promulgating false facts during the election, claimed innocence in court on the 27th, hearing Gyeonggi Gyeonggi Governor Lee Jae-myung’s conviction of the election law. Since Governor Lee was accused of making false remarks in relation to the’forced hospitalization case’ during the election, he was found not guilty.

At the hearing of the Criminal Agreement Division 21 of the Seoul Central District Court (Director Mi-ri Kim), the lawyer of Congressman Choi said, “According to the purpose of the recently sentenced Supreme Court all consensus, the candidate was not guilty of the prosecution. It cannot be punished for spreading false information.”

The ruling of the Supreme Court’s all-sensory body mentioned by the lawyer is the case of Governor Lee. Governor Lee was accused of promulgating false facts under the Public Official Election Act and was sentenced to invalidate the election of 3 million won in the second trial. However, in July last year, the ruling was rescinded and repatriated to the effect of innocence by the entire consensus of the Supreme Court, and it was confirmed innocent in October last year. Governor Lee was accused of promulgating false facts by answering “No such thing” to the other person’s question, “Did you try to put your brother into a mental hospital?” at a TV debate ahead of the election.

At the time, the Supreme Court said, “It is true that the Governor did not state the fact that he was involved in the process of compulsory hospitalization, but it is difficult to evaluate passive avoidance or defense as false public announcement unless there is a legal obligation to disclose it.” It is judged that the candidate cannot be punished by publicizing false information to the extent that he did not actively attempt to publicize false information, but to answer related questions at the debate.

At the court on that day, a battle took place over whether Choi’s remarks could also be seen in a similar context with Governor Lee Jae-myeong. Rep. Choi appeared on a podcast during the general election in April last year, even after falsely issuing the confirmation of the internship of the son of former Justice Minister Cho Kook, on charges of promulgating false facts that “the son of former Minister Cho actually worked as an intern.” Prosecuted.

Representative Choi’s lawyer said, “If the prosecution is prosecuted in all cases, the prosecution must be consistent with’no comment’ even though the fact that the prosecutor has prosecuted the candidate for the election must be widely known.” “Freedom of expression and freedom of election campaigns are severely restricted. In a situation where Congressman Choi was accused of publicizing false information, it is the effect that it is not’actively publicizing false information’ for the parties to claim their innocence and say the grounds.

On the other hand, the prosecution insisted that Governor Lee and Rep. Choi’s cases differ from each other. The prosecution said, “The Governor’s case ruling deals with the judgment on the remarks made at the public debate attended by the candidate,” and said, “It cannot be applied to remarks other than those of the debate.”

He added, “It seems that the Supreme Court applied strict standards in evaluating remarks at the debate,” he said. “Due to the nature of the debate, even inaccurate or exaggerated remarks cannot be regarded as false announcements.” In the case of Governor Lee, in the case of a debate, the candidate for the public office was in a situation where he had to clarify criticism related to him, while Assemblyman Choi argued that his personality was different because he appeared on a podcast and reported false facts.

Because the accused was not obligated to attend the trial preparation date, Choi did not appear in court. Apart from this trial, a ruling on the allegations (obstruction of work) for which Congressman Choi issued a false intern confirmation letter will be sentenced on the 28th.

Reporter Dr. Ra [email protected]