Prosecution Appeals Acquittal of Former Judge Im Seong-geun for 'Trial Interference'

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Jo] Former Chief Justice Yang Seung-tae's era saw former Senior Judge Im Seong-geun prosecuted for intervening in frontline trials, but he was acquitted in both the first and second trials. Now, he will face the Supreme Court's final judgment.

According to the legal community on the 18th, the prosecution has filed a notice of appeal to the Seoul High Court Criminal Division 3 (Presiding Judges Park Yeon-wook, Kim Gyu-dong, Lee Hee-jun), which is handling the appeal trial of former Senior Judge Im's case.

Former Senior Judge Im was indicted on charges of abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights for intervening in the trial of the Seoul bureau chief of the Japanese Sankei Shimbun, who was prosecuted for defamation against former President Park Geun-hye in 2015 while serving as the Senior Presiding Judge of the Seoul Central District Court.

He was also charged with deleting controversial expressions from the verdict in the case of the Lawyers for a Democratic Society's rally in front of Daehanmun, and for ordering summary punishment in a professional baseball players' overseas gambling case.

However, both the first and second trial courts acquitted him, ruling that the Senior Presiding Judge does not have the authority to intervene in the decisions of frontline trial courts, and that each trial court reached its judgment through legal deliberation without obstruction of rights.

This ruling is based on the legal principle of abuse of authority that "without authority, there is no abuse of authority."

The first trial court described former Senior Judge Im's actions as "an unconstitutional act infringing judicial independence." However, the second trial court lowered the severity, calling it "an inappropriate trial intervention act." It explained the reason by stating, "It seems inappropriate to describe the defendant's trial intervention as unconstitutional before even completing the examination of whether the act constitutes abuse of authority."

Meanwhile, the National Assembly passed an impeachment motion against former Senior Judge Im in February this year for intervening in trials, and the Constitutional Court concluded the impeachment trial arguments on the 10th of this month. Former Senior Judge Im, who was in office at the time of the impeachment motion, retired at the end of February this year when his term ended.

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