Air Force Female Sergeant's Court-Appointed Lawyer to Be Referred for Trial Soon

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] The court-appointed defense attorney for the female middle school student victim in the Air Force non-commissioned officer sexual harassment death case is expected to be prosecuted.

According to military officials on the 6th, the prosecution team reportedly reported the prosecution policy for two individuals, the center director and the court-appointed defense attorney (lieutenant) from the Air Force Headquarters Legal Office, at the military prosecution investigation review committee held from 2 p.m. that day.

The Air Force Headquarters Gender Equality Center recognized the sexual harassment victimization of Lieutenant Lee three days after the incident, on March 5. However, the center only filed the victim report to the Ministry of National Defense Gender Equality Policy Division on April 6, a month later, and it was revealed that the report was made in the form of a 'monthly status report' without detailed content. The Gender Equality Center director appeared before the National Assembly Judiciary Committee on the 10th of last month and explained the related inquiries by saying "I was unfamiliar with the guidelines," which sparked controversy.

The bereaved family submitted a complaint against the center director to the prosecution team on the 18th of last month, claiming, "It is correct to see that the report was deliberately minimized." The court-appointed defense attorney, who is expected to be prosecuted by the prosecution team, is reportedly accused of inadequate defense, including not conducting a single interview with Lieutenant Lee in the early stages of the case. The prosecution team is also expected to soon bring to trial the military prosecutor of the Air Force 20th Fighter Wing, who was in charge of the initial investigation, once the investigation is completed.

The military prosecutor is accused of conducting a negligent investigation along with the court-appointed defense attorney, including failing to properly deliver and handle the 'petition' directly written and submitted by the victim's father at the end of March, the early stage of the case, appealing for severe punishment of the perpetrator and concerns about secondary damage.

Regarding this, the court-appointed defense attorney explained in a statement distributed to the media on the 23rd of last month that the petition was delivered late to the investigative agency because "at that time, the investigation was being conducted by the military police, and since the recipient of the petition was listed as 'military prosecutor,' it was judged appropriate to submit it after the case was transferred to the military prosecution."

They added, "From April 8 to 18, I was seconded as a test question committee member within the military and could not perform duties, so I submitted the petition to the military prosecution on April 22 after returning to work."

However, the military prosecutor only investigated the perpetrator on May 31, nine days after Lieutenant Lee's death and 54 days after the case was transferred, despite the petition being delivered on April 22.

In particular, May 31 was the day the case became public through media reports, raising suspicions that the investigation was hastily conducted due to the anticipated scandal.

The prosecution team has previously decided whether to prosecute other subjects who were brought to trial after gathering opinions from external experts participating in the investigation review committee before prosecution.

However, this time, it is known that the prosecution was decided without such a process. This is also interpreted as the reason why it was submitted as a 'report agenda' to the investigation review committee.

Meanwhile, the prosecution team reportedly submitted an agenda to the investigation review committee on the same day regarding whether to prosecute four individuals from the Air Force 15th Special Mission Wing: the battalion commander, operations control room chief, company commander, and radar maintenance team leader, on charges including defamation. These are officers additionally accused by the bereaved family on the 25th of last month.

Attorney Kim Jeong-hwan, representing the bereaved family, claimed at the time of submitting the complaint, "They openly mentioned Lieutenant Lee's victimization during meeting times and appear to have conspired from the beginning to send Lieutenant Lee back to her original unit." Although the investigation review committee's opinions are not legally binding, the operating guidelines for the investigation review committee established by the Minister of National Defense stipulate that these opinions should be respected.

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