Court Rules "State Must Compensate for Police Forced Entry During KCTU Railway Union Strike"
[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-yoon] A ruling has been made that the state must compensate for the police's forced entry into the office during the 2013 strike by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) Railway Union.
The Civil Appeals Division 6-1 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judges Kim Chang-hyung, Dang Woo-jeung, Choi Jeong-in) ruled on the 5th in the retrial of the damages lawsuit filed by the KCTU against the state, ordering the state to pay 4.69 million won in compensation.
The court stated, "It is reasonable to assume that the investigative agency anticipated significant resistance and conflict upon entering the building," and added, "Nevertheless, by breaking the glass door at the entrance and forcibly entering the building, the plaintiff's property rights were infringed."
The court judged that, unless there are urgent circumstances that make it difficult to obtain a search warrant, entering and searching the building without a separate search warrant is illegal.
On December 22, 2013, during the KCTU Railway Union's strike against privatization, the police forcibly entered the KCTU headquarters office in Jung-gu, Seoul, attempting to arrest the Railway Union leadership. In the process, the glass door on the first floor and office furnishings were damaged. The KCTU filed a lawsuit against the government, claiming that the police abused their authority by illegally invading the office and arresting and detaining union members. The first and second trials ruled that the police entry was lawful official conduct.
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In response, the KCTU requested a constitutional review, arguing that Article 216 of the Criminal Procedure Act, which stipulates that in cases of arresting a hidden criminal inside a building, a residential search can be conducted without a separate search warrant, is unconstitutional. The Constitutional Court accepted this in April 2018 and issued a decision of constitutional inconsistency. Last September, the Supreme Court overturned the lower court's ruling, which had ruled against the plaintiff, and remanded the case to the Seoul Central District Court.
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