Human Rights Commission: "Identify Disabled Suspects to Guarantee Right to Defense"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] The National Human Rights Commission of Korea has ruled that investigations that fail to identify socially vulnerable groups such as persons with disabilities in advance and do not properly guarantee the right to defense for criminal suspects are unjust.

On the 10th, the Human Rights Commission recommended that the Commissioner of the Korea Coast Guard establish related measures, stating that failing to inform suspects of their right to have a trusted person accompany them during investigations of persons with disabilities, thereby preventing them from fully exercising their right to defense, infringes on human dignity and due process in criminal procedures.

The petitioner, Mr. A, the father of the victim, stated, "The victim, a North Korean defector, developed mental illness and intellectual disabilities due to the trauma experienced during the defection process and has even been assigned a legal guardian for adults," adding, "The respondents arrested the victim on charges such as drug use and conducted suspect interrogations without allowing a trusted person to be present, thus denying the victim sufficient opportunity to refute the charges," and filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission.

The respondents claimed that at the time of the investigation, the victim clearly expressed their intentions, making it impossible to recognize the disability.

However, the Human Rights Commission's investigation confirmed that the victim had been repeatedly admitted to and discharged from psychiatric hospitals due to mental illness and had a legal guardian assigned. It was also verified that the victim's IQ was 57 and their social maturity age was approximately 11 years old.

The Human Rights Commission stated, "There are testimonies from those around the victim indicating limitations in the victim's communication abilities, and the first suspect interrogation record notes that the respondents doubted whether the victim fully understood the contents of the record and thus explained it again, leading us to conclude that the disability could have been recognized."

It added, "This case stems from insufficient measures to identify socially vulnerable individuals at the early stages of investigation, and we recommend establishing related measures to prevent recurrence of similar cases."

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