Court Postpones First Trial Sentencing of Lee Min-geol, Lee Gyu-jin, and Others Involved in 'Judicial Farming Scandal' to Next Month

Imingeol, former Director of Planning and Coordination Office at the Court Administration Office. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] The first trial sentencing for Lee Min-geol, former Director of Planning and Coordination at the Court Administration Office (currently a presiding judge at Daegu High Court), who was indicted on charges of abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights during the 'judicial scandal' under former Chief Justice Yang Seung-tae, has been postponed to next month.

The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 32 (Presiding Judge Yoon Jong-seop) announced on the 15th that the sentencing trial for Lee and three others, including Lee Gyu-jin, former standing member of the Supreme Court Sentencing Commission, originally scheduled for the 18th, has been rescheduled to the 11th of next month.

Lee’s defense attorney submitted a motion to resume arguments to the court on the 10th, about a week before the sentencing.

Although the sentencing schedule was adjusted following Lee’s motion to resume arguments, it remains uncertain whether the court will accept the motion and proceed with further arguments.

For now, the court stated, "The sentencing date was changed because additional time is needed to review the records and prepare the judgment."

Lee was brought to trial on charges of abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights for intervening in status confirmation lawsuits of former Unified Progressive Party lawmakers and attempting to dismantle judges’ groups critical of judicial administration during former Chief Justice Yang’s tenure, such as the International Human Rights Law Research Association.

At the prosecution’s closing arguments, a prison sentence of 2 years and 6 months was requested for Lee. The prosecution also requested the same sentence of 2 years and 6 months for Lee Gyu-jin, who is accused of collecting internal confidential information from the Constitutional Court and intervening in trials related to the former Unified Progressive Party.

Additionally, the prosecution requested a prison sentence of 1 year and 6 months for former presiding judge Bang Chang-hyun, who was indicted for leaking sentencing results of the former Unified Progressive Party cases he was handling at the request of the Court Administration Office, and 1 year for former high court chief judge Shim Sang-chul, who was indicted for ordering the allocation of the Unified Progressive Party lawmakers’ administrative lawsuit appeals to a specific trial division.

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