Court decides against live broadcast of Lee Jae-myung’s sentencing trial

Nov 14, 2024, 10:06 am

		0
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), attends a meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul on Nov. 13, 2024./ Photographed by Lee Byung-hwa

AsiaToday reporters Kim Im-soo & Im Sang-hyuk

A court on Wednesday decided not to permit a live broadcast for the upcoming sentencing trial of opposition leader Lee Jae-myung in his alleged law violation case to be held on Friday. As a result, the confrontation outside the court is expected to reach its peak as a large number of people are expected to flock to the scene to watch the trial. If the court judges Lee’s remarks that he did not know the late Kim Moon-ki, and that the transportation ministry put pressure on him during the last presidential election as “lies,” the opposition party is expected to fall into the turbulence.

The Seoul Central District Court said it will not allow a real-time filming or broadcast of Lee’s sentencing trial “in comprehensive consideration of the relevant legal interests.” As all attention is paid to Lee’s sentence, the court seemingly made such decision to maintain order within the court. It seems that the court also considered the fact that Lee did not want to be broadcasted.

The court’s ruling, which would determine Lee’s future political life, will depend on “whether Lee’s remarks are false” and “whether they affected the outcome.” During the trial, Lee denied the allegations altogether, saying, “It is impossible to prove that you don’t know people because it cannot be set on objective criteria,” or “The statements made at the National Assembly cannot be punished under the Public Official Election Act.”

A lawyer in Seocho-dong said, “The main issue is whether he announced the false information. If it is true that he announced the false information, the sentence would be determined by how the act of public announcement affected the election results.” If the penalty of more than 1 million won is confirmed, Lee would be deprived of his right to run for election under the Public Official Election Act and the DP would have to pay 43.4 billion won in election expenses.

However, some say that the court may sentence Lee to a fine of 1 million-won or declare him innocent as it had a case of judging the crime of publicizing false information strictly. In fact, Lee was handed over to trial on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act in connection with “forced hospitalization remarks of his older brother” at a TV debate when he was a candidate for governor of Gyeonggi Province in 2008, but the Supreme Court confirmed his innocence, saying, “Even if there are some inaccurate remarks, they should not be strictly punished for publicizing false information.”

Meanwhile, nearly 6,000 people are expected to gather to see the sentencing in person as live broadcasting is not allowed. The Democratic National Innovation Conference, a pro-Lee supporters, is preparing a large-scale rally involving 5,000 supporters on the day of the sentencing. The prosecution’s anti-government committee, which includes the top DP members, also plans to hold an open meeting in front of the court.

#court #Lee Jae-myung