[Anchor]
At the National Assembly, a filibuster—a legal obstruction of proceedings by the People Power Party—is currently underway in opposition to the Criminal Procedure Act amendment submitted under the leadership of the Democratic Party. The amendment, which completely strips prosecutors of their investigative powers, is projected to pass the National Assembly today after the vote to end the filibuster concludes this afternoon (31st).
Reporter Son Hyeong-an has the details.
[Reporter]
The Criminal Procedure Act amendment, which the Democratic Party describes as "the punctuation mark of prosecution reform," was submitted to the National Assembly plenary session yesterday afternoon under the leadership of the ruling and pan-ruling parties.
The current Article 196, which stipulates prosecutors' direct investigative powers, has been entirely deleted from this amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act, and prosecutors' supplementary investigation authority has been abolished, leaving only the authority to request supplementary investigations.
This scale of comprehensive overhaul of the criminal justice system is the first in 72 years.
The Democratic Party praised itself, stating that through this amendment, the Criminal Procedure Act is changing into new clothes aimed at promoting public rights and interests and guaranteeing human rights.
[Han Byeong-do / Democratic Party Floor Leader: This is a historical turning point that ends the concentration of power where prosecutors both investigate and indict, and separates investigation and indictment to place prosecution power under the control of the Constitution and the people.]
Raising their voices, the People Power Party argued that the truth of the "Jang Yoon-ki case" would not have been brought to light without prosecutors' supplementary investigation authority, and demanded that President Lee Jae-myung exercise his veto power.
Subsequently, starting with six-term lawmaker Joo Ho-young, the most senior lawmaker of the People Power Party, the party entered into a filibuster to block the bill.
[Na Kyung-won / People Power Party Lawmaker: I offer my apologies to the general public, asking you to please block this evil bill, which creates a paradise for criminals by abolishing supplementary investigation authority and even includes the laundering of crimes for President Lee Jae-myung.]
This filibuster is projected to continue until this afternoon, with supportive debates by Democratic Party lawmakers and opposing debates by People Power Party lawmakers alternating.
Although the People Power Party is raising its voice that the complete deprivation of prosecutorial authority will intensify the suffering of crime victims, because the pan-ruling party holding the majority of seats can forcibly terminate it via a vote 24 hours after the filibuster begins, the Criminal Procedure Act amendment is scheduled to pass the National Assembly plenary session at around 4:00 PM today.
(Reported by Lee Seung-hwan and Shin Dong-hwan, Video Edited by Lee Seung-jin)
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