Court Acquits Shincheonji's Lee Man-hee of Violating Infectious Disease Control Act
[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The court acquitted Lee Man-hee, the chairman of Shincheonji Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony (Shincheonji), who was indicted for obstructing the government's COVID-19 quarantine activities by violating the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act.
On the 13th, the Criminal Division 11 of Suwon District Court (Presiding Judge Kim Mikyung) sentenced Lee, who was indicted on charges including violation of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act, obstruction of official duties by deception, and instigation of evidence destruction, to three years in prison with a four-year probation.
On this day, the court ruled not guilty on the key charge of violating the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act. The court stated, "The quarantine authorities' request to Shincheonji for facility status and member lists cannot be considered an epidemiological investigation," and added, "Since it corresponds to the data collection stage rather than an actual epidemiological investigation, omitting some data cannot be punished as obstruction of quarantine activities."
However, the court found Lee partially guilty of other charges such as embezzlement and obstruction of business, sentencing him to three years in prison with a four-year probation.
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Lee is accused of conspiring with Shincheonji executives in February last year, when COVID-19 was spreading centered around Shincheonji, to report reduced numbers of believers and meeting locations to the quarantine authorities. He is also charged with embezzling 5 billion KRW of church funds during the construction of the Shincheonji training center, Peace Palace, totaling 5.6 billion KRW, and holding religious events in public facilities of local governments without approval from 2015 to 2019. Lee was arrested and indicted in August last year but was released on bail by court approval in November of the same year and has been on trial without detention since then.
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