[Anchor]
Before Lee Choon-jae was revealed to be the real culprit behind the Hwaseong serial murders, Yoon Seong-yeo had to spend 20 years behind bars after being wrongfully accused. The government subsequently paid Yoon more than 2 billion won in compensation. It has now been confirmed that the government has filed a reimbursement lawsuit against the police officers who illegally investigated Yoon at the time of the Hwaseong case.
SBS reporter An Huijae has this exclusive report.
[Reporter]
Yoon Seong-yeo served 20 years in prison after being designated as the perpetrator of the rape and murder of a middle school girl in Hwaseong in 1989 at the age of 22.
He cleared his name in 2019 following a confession by the true culprit, Lee Choon-jae, and three years ago, the government paid approximately 2.2 billion won in compensation to Yoon and his family.
This was because the past illegal arrests and coercive investigations by police were acknowledged by the retrial court and other judicial bodies.
[Yoon Seong-yeo / Victim of False Investigation in the Hwaseong Serial Murders (December 2022): If you are hung upside down, the blood rushes to your head. And that makes a person completely die, die. Whether I am alive or dead. The aftereffects of that torture from back then still...]--
Although the statute of limitations had expired so there was no criminal punishment for the officers in charge, SBS coverage confirmed that the Ministry of Justice began exercising its right of reimbursement after October of last year.
The ministry claimed 550 million won, equivalent to 25 percent of the compensation amount, from three police officers who conducted coercive investigations at the time and a National Forensic Service (NFS) expert who manipulated DNA test results.
[Choi Jung-kyu / Attorney (Law Firm Wongok): (The reimbursement system) also has a preventive function, meaning that "if I engage in illegal law enforcement, I will also have to bear economic losses and responsibility."]--
With the Ministry of Justice moving to exercise its right of reimbursement, controversies surrounding the scope of responsibility have flared up again.
While prosecutors apologized, stating that they "failed to uncover the truth as the ultimate investigative authority and prosecutorial authority," and the court also bowed its head,--
[Park Jung-je / Retrial Presiding Judge (December 2020): As a member of the judiciary, I offer my apologies for the court's failure to properly fulfill its role as the final bastion of human rights.]
Judges and prosecutors were not included among the targets of this reimbursement claim.
[Lee Sang-hee / Attorney (Law Firm Jihang): It shouldn't be viewed fragmentarily through just one institution; we have to see that human rights violations are completed across a series of processes. This should serve as an opportunity to discuss once again just how far responsibility should be held.]--
The Ministry of Justice explained that the decision was the result of a comprehensive assessment of whether responsibility was acknowledged and the degree of involvement.
The NFS expert paid the full claimed amount during the litigation process, and the reimbursement lawsuit against the police officers is scheduled for its second trial this coming December.
(Video by Kim Jin-won | Design by Kang Yun-jung)
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