Supreme Court: "Prosecutor's Interrogation Records Can Be Enforced Without Grace Period"... Boosting Reinvestigation of 'Han Myeong-sook Case'

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Recently, amid allegations of testimony manipulation by the prosecution during the 'Han Myeong-sook case,' voices are emerging calling for the immediate enforcement of the amended Criminal Procedure Act, which limits the evidentiary power of prosecution interrogation records, without any grace period, drawing significant attention.

According to the legal community on the 31st, a court expert recently stated at the presidential direct 'Follow-up Task Force Meeting for Investigation Rights Reform for the People' that there would be no major issues even if Article 312, Paragraph 1 of the amended Criminal Procedure Act is enforced immediately without a grace period.

According to the amended provision, if the suspect denies a statement made to the prosecution, it will not be recognized as evidence in court.

This changes the current Criminal Procedure Act, where even if the suspect later denies the interrogation record prepared by the prosecutor, as long as it is confirmed that the suspect actually made such a statement to the prosecution, it was accepted as evidence in court. Whether the statement can be trusted is left to the judiciary's discretion.

In contrast, interrogation records from other investigative agencies such as the police could not be admitted as evidence to dispute the truth in court if the suspect later denied them.

With this legal amendment, the evidentiary power of prosecution interrogation records will be limited to the same level as police interrogation records. However, a four-year grace period was attached as a proviso.

In this situation, the Supreme Court has expressed an opinion that 'a grace period is unnecessary,' adding weight to calls for shortening the grace period.

This atmosphere also strengthens the suspicions of prosecution testimony manipulation in the recent political funds violation case involving former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook.

However, there are many counterarguments that removing the grace period stipulated by the amended law ignores the purpose of the legal amendment.

The grace period was separately set to minimize confusion that could occur at the investigation sites, so it is necessary to respect the purpose of the legal amendment.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.