Court to Hold Sentencing Hearing Today for Shincheonji's Lee Man-hee on 'COVID-19 Quarantine Obstruction' Charges

Lee Man-hee, President of Shincheonji Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-seop] The sentencing trial for Lee Man-hee, the 89-year-old chairman of Shincheonji Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony (Shincheonji), who was indicted on charges of obstructing the government's COVID-19 quarantine activities, will be held on the 13th.

The Criminal Division 11 of Suwon District Court (Presiding Judge Kim Mi-kyung) will conduct the sentencing trial for Lee, who was indicted on charges including violation of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act and obstruction of official duties by deception, starting at 2 p.m. that day.

Lee was brought to trial on charges of obstructing the government's quarantine activities by refusing to submit the resident registration number information of about 100,000 Shincheonji believers or failing to properly submit facility status data, despite a significant increase in new confirmed cases centered on Shincheonji believers after the 31st confirmed case in Korea on February 18 last year. The prosecution judged that acts such as reducing the list of believers and the reporting of assembly locations were the result of collusion between Lee and Shincheonji executives.

At the sentencing hearing held on the 9th of last month, the prosecution demanded a sentence of five years in prison and a fine of 3 million won for Lee. At that time, the prosecution stated the reason for the demand, saying, "Due to Shincheonji's illegal activities at the early stage of the COVID-19 outbreak, the public was put at risk," and "They did not hesitate to engage in antisocial activities for their own benefit, disregarded and obstructed public authority, making the crime particularly serious."

Lee is also charged with violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes. This charge relates to Lee's alleged use of the Shincheonji training center 'Palace of Peace,' built with about 5 billion won of Shincheonji funds, as his personal residence. The prosecution believes Lee embezzled a total of 5.6 billion won of church funds, including the building construction costs.

In addition, he is accused of holding illegal religious events in public facilities without approval from the responsible local governments between 2015 and 2019.

Since the preparatory trial began on September 17 last year, Lee has consistently denied all charges brought by the prosecution. At that time, Lee's legal team stated in their opinion letter, "We have organized our opinion to deny all charges."

During the sentencing hearing, Lee also stated in his final remarks, "I apologize to the public for not resolving this situation quickly," but insisted, "I have never violated quarantine authorities' guidelines or committed embezzlement even once."

The court has conducted 18 trials over five months, starting with the first preparatory hearing on September 3 last year. Although Lee was indicted in custody in August, he has been on trial without detention since the court granted bail in November. With the court expected to impose a prison sentence this day, there is a possibility that Lee will be detained again in court.

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