'Seo Ji-hyun Personnel Retaliation' Ahn Tae-geun... Acquitted in Retrial After Remand

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] Former Ministry of Justice Prosecutor General Ahn Tae-geun, who was tried for retaliatory personnel actions against Prosecutor Seo Ji-hyun to suppress her sexual harassment allegations, was acquitted in the retrial after remand.

On the 29th, the 4-2 Criminal Appeal Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Ban Jeong-mo) acquitted former Director Ahn in the retrial after remand on charges of abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights, following the Supreme Court's remand decision.

Former Director Ahn was suspected of sexually harassing Prosecutor Seo at a funeral in October 2010, and later, as the head of the Ministry of Justice's Prosecutor General's Office overseeing personnel affairs, he was accused of unfairly disadvantaging Prosecutor Seo by transferring her from the Yeoju Branch of Suwon District Prosecutors' Office to the Tongyeong Branch of Changwon District Prosecutors' Office in August 2015.

The prosecution argued that when rumors about his sexual harassment allegations spread within the prosecution, former Director Ahn instructed personnel officers to create personnel plans that violated personnel standards to expel Prosecutor Seo. The sexual harassment charge was not prosecuted due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.

The court stated, "The mere fact that Prosecutor Seo was transferred to the Tongyeong Branch of Changwon District Prosecutors' Office does not necessarily violate the principle of considering experienced prosecutors working in a branch office led by a chief prosecutor in the next personnel appointment, nor can it be concluded that it violates the principles and standards of prosecutor personnel management."

Furthermore, the court judged, "It is difficult to consider the act of instructing personnel officers to prepare a personnel plan transferring Prosecutor Seo to the Tongyeong Branch as an 'unnecessary act' under the crime of abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights."

Both the first and second trials found former Director Ahn guilty of abuse of authority due to improper personnel intervention, accepting the sexual harassment allegations as true, and sentenced him to two years in prison. However, in January, the Supreme Court strictly interpreted the law on abuse of authority, overturned the case, and remanded it to the Seoul Central District Court with a verdict of not guilty.

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