[Herald Pop (now Herald Muse)]
[Herald Pop (now Herald Muse)]

Columnist Heo Ji-woong, 46, has come out strongly against an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act — pushed through by the ruling bloc — that would abolish prosecutors' supplementary investigation powers.

Heo wrote on his SNS on Saturday that he opposes the amendment and called it "the last line even among the excesses of the Democratic Party hardliners."

He went on to say that strengthening police capacity and protecting victims must come before any abolition of supplementary investigation powers. "How many people's lives are being ruined right now by delayed, shoddy, or even fabricated investigations?" he wrote. "Citizens' lives and safety are not the Democratic Party's guinea pigs."

Turning to the party's hardline faction, Heo said they seem determined to become "the Jacobins of the peninsula," and criticized them for "taking citizens' daily lives hostage instead of their own political careers — what nerve." He also said a provision expanding grounds for dismissal of indictments appeared to be "a means of tending to the president's sensibilities," adding that if so, "it amounts to an insult in effect."

Of moderates within the ruling party, he said he was disappointed, arguing that "a Gironde that cannot suppress the Jacobins and only compromises has no reason to exist. The party convention is a process, not a destination."

He added, "What on earth is happening in this country? Jung Chung-rae is Robespierre. The private vengeance of radicals is destroying the community. Citizens will never stand by while those who want to smash everything rather than fix it pursue their religious fervor."

Heo warned that "no one can be held responsible for the turmoil and historical regression that will follow the abolition of supplementary investigation powers — the harm to citizens will be irreversible." He also said the People Power Party's failure to act decisively, responding only mechanically, was because it is "counting on exactly that turmoil and regression."

Meanwhile, the National Assembly passed the Criminal Procedure Act amendment on Friday, led by the ruling bloc, stripping prosecutors of both their direct investigation powers and supplementary investigation powers. Under the revised law, prosecutors must request that judicial police officers conduct supplementary investigations rather than doing so themselves, and police are in principle required to comply within one month.


min3654@heraldcorp.com