All Shincheonji Daegu Church Officials Charged with Obstruction of Quarantine Found Not Guilty

Daegu Nam-gu Sincheonji Daegu Church Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] Eight executives of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony (Shincheonji) Daegu Church, who were prosecuted for obstructing epidemiological investigations during the first major wave of COVID-19, were acquitted.

The Criminal Division 11 of Daegu District Court (Chief Judge Sangyun Kim) delivered a verdict of not guilty to all eight defendants, including Choi, the branch leader of the Shincheonji Daegu Church, who were charged with violating the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act. The court ruled that Daegu City's request for the submission of the entire list of church members was not an epidemiological investigation as defined by the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act and its enforcement decree, but rather a preliminary preparation stage for the investigation, and therefore, submitting an incomplete list could not be punished as a violation of the law. They were indicted in July last year on charges of deliberately omitting about 130 members who were reluctant to reveal their identities when Daegu City requested the full list of church members for quarantine purposes amid the spread of COVID-19 in Daegu in February of last year.

Earlier, the Suwon District Court also acquitted Lee Man-hee, the president of Shincheonji, who was prosecuted for obstructing the government's COVID-19 quarantine activities, on the 13th of last month. This criminal trial outcome is expected to affect the billion-won damages lawsuit separately filed by Daegu City against the Shincheonji Daegu Church.

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