Ahn Indeuk's Sentence Reduced to Life Imprisonment on Appeal... 'Diminished Mental Capacity' Recognized

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] Ahn Indeuk (43), who was sentenced to death in the first trial for setting fire to the apartment where he lived and killing five residents who were evacuating, had his sentence reduced to life imprisonment in the appellate court. Unlike the first trial court, the appellate court accepted Ahn's claim of diminished mental capacity.

The Criminal Division 1 of the Changwon Branch of the Busan High Court (Chief Judge Jinseok Kim) overturned the original death sentence and sentenced Ahn, who was charged with murder and arson of an inhabited building, to life imprisonment at the sentencing hearing on the 24th. The court stated the reason for sentencing, saying, "Considering the defendant's medical history and the results of the psychiatric evaluation, the defendant had a mental disorder and appeared to have delusional paranoia and relational paranoia, thus we judge diminished mental capacity."

On April 17 of last year, Ahn set fire to his apartment in Jinju, Gyeongnam, and then attacked residents evacuating with a weapon. Five residents died and 17 were injured in this incident. The first trial, conducted as a citizen participation trial, sentenced Ahn to death in November last year. Ahn appealed, claiming, "The first trial court erred by sentencing death instead of reducing the sentence due to diminished mental capacity."

The prosecution again demanded the death penalty, the highest legal punishment, in April, stating, "Ahn committed the crime under a thorough plan, attacking only apartment residents with whom he had conflicts." The court initially scheduled the sentencing for the 20th of last month but postponed the sentencing hearing twice due to reasons such as resuming arguments, finally reaching a conclusion on this day.

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