'Abuse of Authority' Jeong Jin-woong Denies Charges... Han Dong-hoon Accepted as Witness

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Bae Kyunghwan] Jeong Jin-ung, the deputy chief prosecutor of the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office, who was indicted on charges of official assault against Prosecutor Han Dong-hoon, denied the charges in court. Prosecutor Han was selected as a witness in this case.

On the 23rd, the Criminal Division 22 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Yang Cheol-han) held the second pretrial conference for Deputy Chief Prosecutor Jeong, who was indicted for violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (official assault).

On this day, Deputy Chief Prosecutor Jeong's defense attorney stated, "The defendant only executed a search warrant against Han Dong-hoon." Official assault is a provision intended to prevent torture and other cruel acts, but Deputy Chief Prosecutor Jeong argued that there was no fact of torturing or cruelly treating Prosecutor Han.

He added, "The duties related to personal detention are performed by judges or prosecutors, and considering the job relevance, assaults by judges or prosecutors could also pose a risk of being classified as official assault," and mentioned, "The legal provisions should be interpreted restrictively."

The prosecution applied to call Prosecutor Han, witnesses who saw the incident at the time, and the doctor who diagnosed injuries to Prosecutor Han as witnesses. The court stated that it seems appropriate to conduct the witness examination of Prosecutor Han after the trial has progressed to some extent.

Meanwhile, the pretrial conference concluded on the day, and the formal trial date will be held on the 20th of next month. The defendant is obligated to attend the trial date.

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