Prosecution Seeks 1-Year Prison Sentence for Former Vice Minister Lee Yong-gu on Taxi Driver Assault Charges

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Gong Byung-sun] The prosecution has demanded a one-year prison sentence for former Deputy Minister of Justice Lee Yong-gu, who is accused of assaulting a taxi driver while intoxicated.

On the 6th, the prosecution requested a one-year prison sentence at the sentencing trial held at the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 32-2 (Presiding Judges Cho Seung-woo, Bang Yoon-seop, Kim Hyun-soon) on charges of assaulting a driver under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes and instructing evidence destruction against former Deputy Minister Lee.

The prosecution explained, "The defendant is a lawyer who has the duty to pursue the truth, yet he is claiming innocence regarding the charge of instructing evidence destruction in violation of his duty. Considering the circumstances at the time, the defendant’s request to delete the video and provide false testimony clearly constitutes a series of acts to evade criminal punishment, and the establishment of the crime of instructing evidence destruction is evident."

Former Deputy Minister Lee is accused of grabbing the collar and assaulting a taxi driver who tried to wake him near his residence in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on November 6, 2020. It is also known that after the incident, he requested the taxi driver to delete the black box footage inside the vehicle that captured the assault.

This case was initially closed as an internal investigation by the Seocho Police Station, applying the offense of assault as a non-prosecutable crime upon victim’s withdrawal of complaint. However, when the allegations surfaced after Lee’s appointment as Deputy Minister in 2020, a reinvestigation was conducted.

The defense acknowledged the assault charge against the taxi driver but asked the court to consider that Lee was intoxicated and in a state of diminished mental capacity at the time. Additionally, they claimed that the taxi driver voluntarily deleted the black box footage. Lee resigned from his position in May last year and was indicted in September.

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