Late Lee Yeram Case 'Jeon Ik-su Recording Manipulation' Lawyer "Hopes for Citizen Jury Trial"

The late Air Force Sergeant Lee Yeram's father [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] In relation to the death of sexual harassment victim late Sergeant Lee Yeram, a lawyer accused of manipulating the original file of the so-called 'Jeon Iksoo recording' expressed his desire to have a 'citizen trial' at his first trial.

On the morning of the 11th, the Criminal Division 34 of the Seoul Central District Court (Chief Judge Kang Gyutae) held a preparatory hearing for lawyer A (35, male), who was indicted on charges of evidence forgery and obstruction of business. Unlike a formal trial date, the preparatory hearing does not require the defendant's attendance, but A appeared in court in person that day.

A’s defense attorney stated, "We acknowledge all the basic facts of the charges," but appealed to allow the sentencing to be contested through a citizen trial. A citizen trial is a system where randomly selected jurors aged 20 or older participate directly in criminal trials. The jury's decision has advisory effect on the court.

The defense attorney said, "We considered the risk of secondary harm to the victim or bereaved family, but since the issue is how the investigation process and the defendant’s actions were conducted, such concerns are minimal," adding, "We will take special care to minimize the risk of secondary harm." The court decided to hold another preparatory hearing on the 27th to determine the trial procedure and witnesses to be summoned.

A was indicted on charges of manipulating the original recording file presented as evidence of the 'investigation cover-up suspicion' involving Air Force Legal Office Chief Jeon Iksoo (Brigadier General) and delivering it to the Military Human Rights Center.

At the time, the Military Human Rights Center raised suspicions that Jeon personally directed the non-custodial investigation of the perpetrator during the early stages of the investigation based on this tip-off. However, the special prosecutor team led by Special Prosecutor Ahn Miyoung (56, Judicial Research and Training Institute class 25), who investigated the sergeant’s death case, revealed that the recording file was manipulated using a text-to-speech (TTS) device that made a machine produce human speech.

The special prosecutor team explained, "(A) was motivated by personal grudge against Jeon due to disciplinary action received during his time as an Air Force legal officer." However, the Military Human Rights Center was judged to have been unaware of the manipulation until the recording was exposed and thus did not take separate legal action.

Regarding Jeon, only partial involvement in leaking investigation information was uncovered, and he was indicted on charges under the Specific Crimes Aggravated Punishment Act (coercion to meet). The special prosecutor team judged that Jeon used his rank and position to pressure a subordinate military prosecutor who requested an arrest warrant for military official Yang (49), who had provided him with classified information related to the case, by calling him in July last year and saying, "The warrant is wrong."

Previously, Sergeant Lee, who belonged to the Air Force 20th Wing, reported being sexually harassed by senior Sergeant Jang (25) in March last year but took her own life on May 21 of the same year while the military prosecution investigation was ongoing. The Ministry of National Defense, which investigated the case, criminally charged 25 people and prosecuted 15 last October, but the command, which supervised the 20th Wing military police, military prosecutors, and military prosecution responsible for the initial investigation, was not prosecuted due to insufficient evidence, causing controversy.

Subsequently, the special prosecutor team concluded that Sergeant Lee died after suffering secondary harm from her direct superiors following the sexual harassment and confirmed the military’s poor investigation, investigation cover-up, and defamation of Sergeant Lee by the Air Force, indicting related persons who were not prosecuted by the Ministry of National Defense investigation. A total of seven people, including Jeon and four other officers, one military official, and perpetrator Sergeant Jang, were indicted without detention.

Meanwhile, Warrant Officer Noh (53), who was indicted for secondary harm by threatening Sergeant Lee not to report the forced molestation after receiving the report the day after the sexual harassment incident, saying, "Punishment of others is inevitable, and everyone present will be harmed. You could also get hurt," was recently sentenced to two years in prison in the second trial. Sergeant Jang was sentenced to seven years in prison by the Supreme Court for forced molestation.

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