Prosecution Requests Ex Officio Retrial for 70s Violating 1980 'Martial Law Proclamation No. 10'

"'Martial Law Proclamation No. 10' Unconstitutional and Illegal, Constitutes Justifiable Act"
"Will Actively Proceed with Rights Remedy Procedures for Victims Related to the May 18 Democratic Movement"

Seoul Seocho-dong Supreme Prosecutors' Office.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin, Legal Affairs Specialist] The prosecution has filed a retrial ex officio for a defendant who was sentenced to prison and served time for violating the martial law proclamation during the May 18, 1980 Democratization Movement.

The prosecution's judgment is that the martial law proclamation, which was enforced to suppress the May 18 Democratization Movement, was unconstitutional and illegal, thus invalid, and that the citizens' acts of preventing and opposing crimes that disrupted the constitutional order at the time can be regarded as just acts to protect the constitutional order.

On the 24th, the Goyang Branch of the Uijeongbu District Prosecutors' Office announced that it had filed a retrial ex officio the day before for Mr. Oh (71), who was sentenced to three years in prison for violating Martial Law Proclamation No. 10 in 1980.

According to the prosecution, Mr. Oh, who was 28 years old at the time on May 18, 1980, was arrested on the 23rd of the same month for violating Martial Law Proclamation No. 10 (prohibiting political activities and fabrication and dissemination of false rumors) after posting a wall poster at a pharmacy in Dobong-gu, Seoul, detailing the damages suffered by citizens and students during the Bu-Ma Democratic Uprising and the circumstances under which the military under Chun Doo-hwan seized power through a coup.

Subsequently, on July 5, 1980, Mr. Oh was sentenced to three years in prison by the Martial Law Ordinary Military Court of the Capital Defense Command, and after serving more than nine months, he was released in March of the following year by a special pardon from the Minister of National Defense.

Mr. Oh submitted a petition to the Goyang Branch in June this year expressing his wish to request a retrial, and the branch filed the retrial ex officio the day before.

The "Special Act on the May 18 Democratization Movement, etc." stipulates that a retrial can be requested for those who were convicted for committing or opposing crimes that disrupted the constitutional order.

Furthermore, the Supreme Court holds the position that the May 17, 1980, emergency martial law expansion order constitutes a crime disrupting the constitutional order, such as treason under criminal law, and that preventing and opposing it is a just act to protect the constitutional order and does not constitute a crime.

Regarding Martial Law Proclamation No. 10, the Seoul High Court has stated that "it was issued as a means to suppress the May 18 Democratization Movement by forcibly expanding the emergency martial law nationwide through violent and illegal means, lacking the conditions prescribed by the Constitution and laws for issuance, and violating the fundamental human rights guaranteed by the Constitution, thus being unconstitutional and illegal."

In this way, the prosecution's position is that Mr. Oh's act of violating Martial Law Proclamation No. 10, which is invalid due to being unconstitutional and illegal, does not constitute a crime and thus constitutes grounds for retrial under the Criminal Procedure Act.

A prosecution official said, "The prosecution is continuously promoting the restoration of honor and rights relief for victims related to the May 18 Democratization Movement," and added, "For those who have been convicted or received deferred prosecution related to the May 18 Democratization Movement cases, we plan to actively proceed with relief procedures such as filing retrials ex officio or reopening cases and issuing 'not guilty' rulings."

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