No Evidence but Prosecution Deferred... Constitutional Court Orders "Cancel the Disposition"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The Constitutional Court has ruled that the prosecution's decision to suspend indictment on the premise that the accused was guilty despite no evidence of intentional theft must be canceled.

On the 4th, the Constitutional Court announced that it unanimously canceled the prosecution's suspension of indictment in a constitutional complaint trial, stating that the suspension infringed on the right to pursue happiness.

Mr. A received a suspension of indictment in October 2019 on charges of stealing a bag of apples placed on a self-packaging counter at a mart in Dobong-gu, Seoul. Dissatisfied with this, Mr. A filed a constitutional complaint seeking cancellation of the suspension of indictment.

It was confirmed that the bag of apples Mr. A took was left behind by another mart visitor, Mr. B, who had purchased it but accidentally left it there. Mr. A moved to the self-packaging counter and, while putting his purchased groceries into an empty box, also put the bag of apples in it.

The Constitutional Court judged that considering Mr. A had bought the same apples as Mr. B and was elderly suffering from insomnia, there was sufficient possibility that he mistook Mr. B's apples for the ones he had purchased.

The Court stated, "Except for the suspect interrogation record, the only means to recognize the intent of theft is the captured CCTV footage," and added, "In the photos, Mr. A is seen looking around to check if others are nearby or carefully examining the bag of apples, so there is no circumstance to recognize even a slight intent of theft."

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