Kim Bong-hyun's 'Request to Recuse Judges' Dismissed... "No Concern of Unfair Trial"

Former Star Mobility Chairman Kim Bong-hyun Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] The recusal request filed by Kim Bong-hyun, former chairman of Star Mobility and a key figure in the Lime Asset Management scandal, has been dismissed.

The Criminal Division 11 of the Seoul Southern District Court (Presiding Judge Lee Hwan-seung) ruled on the 29th that "there is no objective circumstance to believe that an unfair trial will take place," thereby rejecting Kim's recusal request.

The court explained, "In the main case, the defendant disagrees with most testimonial evidence, and there are as many as 88 witnesses requiring examination. Due to these circumstances, trial dates were scheduled at one-week intervals, which is not considered to have hindered the defendant's right to defense."

It continued, "The effect of detention applies only to the criminal facts stated in the arrest warrant, so detaining the defendant on criminal facts different from those in the previous warrant cannot be considered illegal. Considering the defendant's attempts to flee, the main case court's decision, which judged there was a risk of flight and evidence destruction, cannot be deemed unreasonable."

The court also stated regarding the denial of bail, "The approval of discretionary bail falls within the court's discretion," and "the mere fact that the defendant's bail request was denied does not constitute an objective circumstance that would make it difficult to expect fairness in the trial."

Earlier, on the 10th, Kim filed a recusal request against the Criminal Division 13 (Presiding Judge Shin Hyuk-jae) handling his trial, claiming the court was unfair. Kim argued that the court violated the defendant's fundamental rights by issuing split arrest warrants for reasons that were not convincing and unjustly rejected bail with electronic monitoring conditions.

He also explained that the court showed a negative attitude toward the usual consolidation requests and scheduled witness examinations on a tight timeline, thereby not properly guaranteeing the defendant's right to defense during the trial process.

According to the Criminal Procedure Act, a defendant may file a recusal request if there is concern that the court will conduct an unfair trial. Upon receipt of such a request, the court must suspend the ongoing trial and first review the recusal request. The review is conducted by another division of the same court, and if the grounds are deemed valid, the court division is replaced. However, if the recusal request is clearly judged to be for delaying the trial, the existing court division may dismiss the request without review by another division.

With this recusal request dismissed, Kim's trial will continue to be heard by the existing court division.

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