'Illegal Recruitment of Party Members' Jeong Jong-je, Former Gwangju Deputy Mayor, Receives Suspended Sentence in Appeal Trial

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Jin-hyung] Jeong Jong-je, former Deputy Mayor of Gwangju Metropolitan City, who was indicted for illegal election campaigning ahead of the 21st general election, received a suspended sentence again in the appellate court.

The 1st Criminal Division of the Gwangju High Court (Presiding Judge Lee Seung-cheol) on the afternoon of the 4th dismissed the appeals of both the prosecution and the defendant in the appeal trial of former Deputy Mayor Jeong, who was sentenced in the first trial to 1 year and 6 months in prison with a 2-year suspension and a 2-year disqualification for violating the Public Official Election Act, and upheld the original judgment.

Additionally, the appellate court upheld the original judgment that sentenced three others, including public officials and executives of public enterprises who were tried together with former Deputy Mayor Jeong, to suspended sentences ranging from 1 to 2 years.

However, for public official B, who was sentenced in the first trial to 4 months in prison with a 1-year suspension and a 1-year disqualification, the court postponed sentencing citing fairness with other public officials who were not indicted.

Former Deputy Mayor Jeong and others argued that certain illegal party member-related documents were illegally collected and thus lacked evidentiary power, but this was not accepted.

The court maintained the original judgment that the evidence was lawfully obtained during the search and seizure process.

The court stated, "Although the fact that former Deputy Mayor Jeong, as a public official, attempted to influence the election is a very serious offense, considering that he did not actually participate in the election and did not influence the election, the original judgment appears to have been made within a reasonable discretionary range."

Former Deputy Mayor Jeong was prosecuted on charges of illegally recruiting 5,127 party members from May to July 2019 in collusion with other defendants ahead of the 21st general election.

At that time, the prosecution conducted a search and seizure of the Gwangju Urban Corporation office while investigating an incident in which former Deputy Mayor Jeong exerted pressure on the Gwangju Urban Corporation regarding a private park project.

During this process, the prosecution discovered about 150 Democratic Party membership application forms and indicted former Deputy Mayor Jeong and others for violating the election law.

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