Human Rights Violations at 'Hyeongjebokjiwon'... Supreme Court Rejects Emergency Appeal

[Asia Economy Reporter Bae Kyunghwan] The Supreme Court has dismissed the extraordinary appeal regarding the Busan Brothers Home incident, a representative human rights violation case of the 1980s. This comes about two years and four months after former Prosecutor General Moon Moo-il filed the extraordinary appeal to the Supreme Court in November 2018.

On the 11th, the Supreme Court's 2nd Division (Presiding Justice Ahn Cheolsang) dismissed all extraordinary appeals in the case of the late Park In-geun, former director of the Brothers Home, who was acquitted of charges of special detention.

The Brothers Home, established under the pretext of "reforming vagrants," operated like a detention facility from 1975 to 1987, but was suspected of illegal confinement, forced labor, beatings, and sexual assault. Internal documents indicate that over 500 people died, and some bodies have yet to be found.

Director Park was indicted on charges including illegal confinement. However, in 1989, the Supreme Court ruled that Park's actions were the lawful detention of vagrants under government directives at the time and acquitted him, judging it as a justifiable act under criminal law. The court held that the detention was in accordance with government directives and thus fell under Article 20 of the Criminal Act concerning justifiable acts.

However, 29 years later in 2018, then Prosecutor General Moon Moo-il filed an extraordinary appeal on Park's case following recommendations from the Prosecutorial Reform Committee under the Supreme Prosecutors' Office. An extraordinary appeal is an emergency relief procedure where the Prosecutor General requests the Supreme Court to re-examine a finalized criminal judgment if illegalities are found.

The prosecution argued that the Ministry of Home Affairs' directive at the time infringed on physical and residential freedom, and that the criteria for targets of crackdown, detention, and facilities were unclear, thus asserting that the past Supreme Court ruling was illegal.

However, on this day, the Supreme Court dismissed the extraordinary appeal. The bench stated, "The part of the original judgment acquitting the defendant has lost its effect due to the Supreme Court's reversal ruling after being appealed together with the guilty part," and "The extraordinary appeal filed regarding the acquittal part of the original judgment cannot be accepted as it concerns a judgment that cannot be subject to an extraordinary appeal."

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