(CLO) South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung was sentenced to one year in prison, suspended, for perjury during his previous presidential campaign.
If upheld, the ruling would strip him of his parliamentary seat and bar him from running in the next presidential election in 2027.
On November 15, the Seoul Central District Court said that Mr. Lee, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) in South Korea, was guilty of perjury in violation of the Civil Service Election Act, and sentenced him to one year in prison, suspended for two years.
Mr. Lee is accused of lying in a December 2021 media interview that he did not know former South Korean National Assembly member Kim Moon-ki, the former CEO of Seongnam Development, the company behind a corrupt project in Seongnam, Seoul, when Mr. Lee was mayor of the city. Mr. Lee also implied that he did not play golf with Mr. Kim during a business trip to Australia.
Mr. Lee was also accused of lying during a parliamentary audit of the Gyeonggi provincial government in October 2021, saying that he was pressured by the Land Ministry to rezone the former land of the Korea Food Research Institute in Seongnam. The land was later developed into apartment complexes by a private developer, and it is alleged that Mr. Lee rezoned the land to give preferential treatment to the company.
Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung speaks to the media outside the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul on November 15, after the court sentenced him to a one-year suspended prison term for lying during the 2022 presidential election campaign. Photo: Yonhap
In a statement explaining the ruling on November 15, the Seoul Central District Court said that spreading false information during the election process would prevent voters from making the right choice and could harm democracy.
"His crime is quite serious. Freedom of speech during elections must be recognized, but the distortion of public opinion through inaccurate information must be taken into account," the court added.
Mr. Lee is considered a leading candidate in the next South Korean presidential election, after losing to President Yoon Suk Yeol by a margin of 0.73 percentage points in 2022.
Under the Civil Service Election Act, the court only needs to fine Lee 1 million won or more to strip him of his parliamentary seat and ban him from running for public office for the next five years, including the 2027 presidential election.
If the November 15 ruling is upheld, the DP will also have to return the 43.4 billion won it received from the state election watchdog to cover the costs of the 2022 presidential election.
Prosecutors have asked for a two-year prison sentence for Mr. Lee.
Mr Lee said he would appeal the ruling. "This is a conclusion that is difficult to accept, starting from the basic facts," he told reporters outside the court.
This is the first of four sentences handed down to the opposition leader, who is currently facing three more trials on charges of bribing a former mayor’s secretary to give false testimony in his favor, corruption related to the Seongnam project, and involvement in an $8 million illegal transfer to North Korea.
Ngoc Anh (according to Yonhap, Reuters)
Source: https://www.congluan.vn/lanh-dao-doi-lap-han-quoc-bi-ket-an-kho-co-the-tranh-cu-post321509.html
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