Jung Jin-woong, Investigator Present at 'Abuse of Authority' Scene, Testifies "No Evidence of Han Dong-hoon Destroying Evidence"

Jung Jin-woong, Deputy Chief Prosecutor of Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office. / Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin] On the 10th, a prosecution investigator who was present at the scene of the 'official violence' against Prosecutor Han Dong-hoon by Deputy Chief Prosecutor Jeong Jin-woong of the Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office (then Head of the Criminal Division 1 at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office) on July 29 last year testified in court that "there was no indication that Prosecutor Han tried to destroy evidence at the time of the assault by Deputy Chief Prosecutor Jeong."

On this day, a video showing the situation at the time was released in court.

The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 22 (Presiding Judge Yang Cheol-han) held the second trial on the 10th for Deputy Chief Prosecutor Jeong, who was indicted on charges of official violence under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes.

Deputy Chief Prosecutor Jeong is accused of assaulting Prosecutor Han and causing injury during the seizure and search of Prosecutor Han's mobile phone SIM card on July 29, as part of the investigation into the 'media-prosecution collusion' allegations.

At the trial, Investigator A, who participated in the search and seizure of Prosecutor Han's office at the Judicial Research and Training Institute, appeared as a witness.

On this day, Investigator A testified in response to the prosecutor's question, "Was there any behavior by the victim (Prosecutor Han Dong-hoon) that could be suspected as evidence destruction?" by saying, "I don't think there was."

A video lasting about 20 seconds showing the situation immediately after the physical altercation was also shown in court on this day.

Investigator A, who arrived at the scene about 10 minutes after the search and seizure began, stated that he started filming the video according to prior instructions.

However, when Prosecutor Han asked, "What are you doing?" Deputy Chief Prosecutor Jeong signaled with his eyes to stop filming, and Investigator A testified that he stopped recording.

In the video, Prosecutor Han raised his voice at Deputy Chief Prosecutor Jeong, saying, "You assaulted someone during the execution of official duties," and when Deputy Chief Prosecutor Jeong tried to calm him down, Prosecutor Han retorted, "I was restricted from having a lawyer present. I said I would make a call, and wasn't that not permitted?" Deputy Chief Prosecutor Jeong then allowed the use of the phone, saying, "Then go ahead."

According to Investigator A's testimony, when Prosecutor Han's lawyer did not answer a call made to another phone number, Prosecutor Han tried to make a call using his own phone. During the process of covering the phone with his hand and entering the number, Deputy Chief Prosecutor Jeong approached, saying, "I need to see that too."

Subsequently, when Deputy Chief Prosecutor Jeong tried to take the phone, saying, "You can't do this," Prosecutor Han resisted, leading to the incident.

However, Investigator A said about the official violence situation, "It happened so quickly that I don't remember the exact movements." He explained that Prosecutor Han later expressed pain, saying "Ahhh," but Deputy Chief Prosecutor Jeong continued to press him down with his body, causing Prosecutor Han to collapse on the office floor.

The questioning of another witness, originally scheduled to be questioned together on this day, is planned to be held at 2 p.m. on the 5th of next month.

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