Lee Dong-jae and then Lee Sang-hoon also judged as false report... Court reaffirms principle of warrant requirement

Former Samsung Electronics Board Chairman Lee Sang-hoon [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The second trial of Lee Sang-hoon, former chairman of Samsung Electronics' board of directors, who was acquitted on the 10th, demonstrated how strictly the court has recently applied the 'warrant principle.' It reaffirmed that searches and seizures without presenting a warrant are illegal, and evidence collected in this manner cannot be recognized under any circumstances. The court had previously cited similar reasoning when partially accepting a petition filed by former Channel A reporter Lee Dong-jae.

The key issue in the trial of former chairman Lee, who was indicted on charges of dismantling the Samsung Electronics Service labor union, was whether the prosecution's search and seizure procedures were lawful. The prosecution discovered evidence related to this case on a hard disk accidentally obtained during a search and seizure at Samsung Electronics' Suwon headquarters in February 2018. However, the problem arose because the investigator did not present a warrant to the employee at the time of the search and seizure. Samsung, including former chairman Lee, argued during the trial that "the search and seizure process was illegal, so the related evidence should not be admitted."

The second trial court, the Criminal Division 3 of the Seoul High Court (Chief Judge Bae Jun-hyun), unlike the first trial, judged that the search and seizure procedures were illegal. The court stated, "Not presenting a warrant infringes on the substantive content of due process." It emphasized that presenting a warrant is a fundamental and essential procedure to procedurally realize the principle of the warrant system. The second trial court also found problematic the prosecution's arbitrary broad interpretation of the search and seizure locations stated in the warrant. This strict standard by the court ultimately led to former chairman Lee's acquittal.

Lee Dong-jae, former Channel A reporter, identified as the key suspect in the 'alleged collusion between prosecutors and media' case. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Lee, the former reporter involved in the 'media collusion' suspicion and indicted on charges of attempted coercion, was last month granted a court decision that the prosecution's seizure of his mobile phone and laptop was illegal and should be canceled. Judge Kim Chan-nyeon of the Criminal Division 31 of the Seoul Central District Court, who presided over the case, stated, "This is no different from a case where the suspect requested the presentation of a warrant, but the investigative agency did not present it and seized the items." In May, the prosecution seized a laptop and mobile phone from a Channel A executive at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Seoul, but Lee's side filed a petition against the investigative agency's disposition, claiming "there was no presentation of a warrant from the prosecution."

Lee's first trial will be held on the 26th under the supervision of Chief Judge Park Jin-hwan of the Criminal Division 1 of the Seoul Central District Court. The prosecution must have their search and seizure recognized as lawful by the Supreme Court to have the evidentiary value of the mobile phone and laptop admitted at trial. The appeal case filed by the prosecution is assigned to the Supreme Court's Third Division (Presiding Justice Min Yu-sook) and is currently under review. The Third Division ruled in April that if only the cover of the warrant was shown to the suspect during the seizure of mobile phones, without showing the specific contents, it was illegal. This similarly emphasized the principles of the warrant system and due process.

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