Constitutional Court to Deliver Verdict on Im Seong-geun Former Chief Judge's Impeachment Case on 28th... Focus on First Judge Impeachment Decision

Constitutional Court Grand Bench.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] The decision on whether to impeach former Busan High Court Chief Judge Im Seong-geun, who was charged with intervening in three trials, will be made on the 28th.

The Constitutional Court announced on the 25th that it will hold the ruling session for the impeachment trial request against former Chief Judge Im at 2 p.m. on the 28th in the Grand Courtroom of the Constitutional Court in Jaedong, Jongno-gu, Seoul.

According to the summary of the charges brought by the National Assembly, former Chief Judge Im is accused of improperly intervening in three trials during 2015-2016 when he served as the Senior Criminal Presiding Judge at the Seoul Central District Court under former Chief Justice Yang Seung-tae. These cases include ▲a defamation case involving former Sankei Shimbun Seoul Bureau Chief Kato Tatsuya related to reports on former President Park Geun-hye’s whereabouts on the day of the Sewol ferry disaster ▲a case involving lawyers from the Lawyers for a Democratic Society (Minbyun) charged with assault and injury during a Ssangyong Motor protest ▲and a case involving professional baseball players Oh Seung-hwan and Im Chang-yong accused of gambling.

In the Kato Tatsuya case, he requested the presiding judge of the trial panel handling the case to make interim judgments and to revise the oral record of the verdict announcement. In the baseball players’ case, he summoned the judge who referred the case, which had a summary order requested, to a formal trial procedure and advised him to hear more opinions from surrounding judges, ultimately causing the decision to be overturned. In the Minbyun lawyers’ assault and injury case, he caused the content of an already delivered verdict to be revised, thereby infringing on the constitutional independence of judicial authority and trial independence, and violating the Court Organization Act and the Criminal Procedure Act.

During the preparatory hearing held on March 24 and three subsequent oral arguments between June and September, the petitioner and respondent engaged in intense disputes.

Procedurally, this impeachment trial request case raised issues such as ▲whether there were any problems with the National Assembly’s impeachment procedure ▲whether criminal trials or disciplinary actions for the same reasons and impeachment trial requests violate the constitutional principle of ne bis in idem ▲and whether dismissal decisions are possible for public officials who have already retired.

In particular, the respondent (Im Seong-geun) argued that since former Chief Judge Im had already retired due to the expiration of his term, the impeachment trial request should be dismissed.

On the substantive side, the disputes centered on ▲whether the acts of former Chief Judge Im included in the charges could be considered illegal or unconstitutional ▲and even if illegal, whether they constitute a ‘serious violation of the law’ warranting impeachment of a judge.

Former Chief Judge Im was previously indicted on charges of abuse of authority and obstruction of justice for the same acts that formed the basis of this impeachment, but was acquitted in both the first and second trials.

This impeachment case is the first impeachment trial request against a sitting judge and includes various procedural and substantive issues, drawing significant attention to the Constitutional Court’s final decision.

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