The lawyer representing a deceased employee of the Central Election Commission (CEC) has disputed the special prosecutor's explanation regarding the investigation that preceded the employee's death. The lawyer claimed there was shouting and pressure during the interrogation, and that the deceased had requested to end the questioning due to distress, but the investigation team did not comply.
In a press release on October 22, the law firm Dodam stated, "Despite the lawyer explicitly pointing out the coercive nature of the investigation, the special prosecutor's claim that there was no coercive atmosphere contradicts the situation at the time." Attorney Park Hyun-jung, who attended the interrogation on October 20, represented the deceased.
According to Dodam, the prosecutor repeatedly asked similar questions, and when the deceased responded that he did not know, the prosecutor stood up and shouted, "Are you saying you don't know when I asked you to talk about general matters?" The lawyer protested, stating, "It is coercion to pressure a suspect by shouting while standing when the desired answers are not forthcoming."r />
Dodam also revealed that the prosecutor responded to the protest by saying, "That's because you are not speaking the truth." The firm criticized this, stating, "When the prosecutor assumes their judgment as 'fact' and demands answers that align with it, the interrogation process becomes one that pressures the suspect to conform their testimony to a predetermined conclusion."
The firm provided details about the refusal to accept the request to end the interrogation. The deceased had previously communicated to his lawyer that he did not want to be interrogated late due to the difficulty he was experiencing. The lawyer requested the investigators around 5:40 to 5:45 PM to limit the questioning to 6:30 PM.
However, the investigators and prosecutors allegedly responded, "We can continue the investigation until 9 PM, when consent is required, so we will proceed before that time." The special prosecutor had stated the actual end time of the interrogation was 8:55 PM the previous day.
Dodam emphasized, "What the special prosecutor needs to clarify is not simply whether the investigation ended before 9 PM, but why they continued the questioning despite the suspect expressing a desire to conclude early due to distress."
The firm also raised concerns about the roles and placement of the investigative personnel involved in the interrogation. They claimed that a judicial police officer of the rank of sergeant led the questioning from the front, while the prosecutor was positioned to the side and the special investigator was behind, forcing the deceased to turn to respond. Dodam questioned whether it was appropriate for a judicial police officer, who is supposed to assist in investigations, to effectively lead the interrogation.
This contradicts the explanation provided by the special prosecutor the previous day, which stated, "There was no coercive atmosphere throughout the entire investigation process, and there were no objections to the content of the investigation or the records."
According to the special prosecutor, the deceased was interrogated from 10 AM to 8:55 PM on October 20, with the lawyer present. Excluding 3 hours and 20 minutes for meals and breaks, the actual interrogation time was 7 hours and 35 minutes. Afterward, the deceased spent about 1 hour and 45 minutes reviewing and revising the records, which the special prosecutor claimed was done voluntarily.
The deceased, a 40-year-old official from the CEC's election support division, was found dead in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, on October 21, the day after his first interrogation regarding allegations of bid interference and breach of duty related to election supplies contracts. The CEC expressed regret on the same day, stating, "We are very sorry that continued investigations caused extreme psychological burden and led to the loss of a precious life," and requested the special prosecutor to protect employee rights.
Dodam clarified that they are not trying to establish a direct causal relationship between the deceased's death and the investigation. They emphasized, "The special prosecutor must verify the facts and objectively assess whether the investigation methods were appropriate," and should not assume the deceased's allegations as established facts or conclude that the investigation and death were unrelated.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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