Former Daegu mayor shares observations on criminal justice system after resuming legal practice

Former Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo [Yonhap]
Former Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo [Yonhap]

Former Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo, who has returned to legal practice, said Thursday that courts should apply stricter standards at the warrant review stage and that the wrongful practice of "locking people up unconditionally" must be abolished.

Hong made the remarks in a Facebook post Thursday, saying South Korea was moving toward an era of mandatory indictment — one in which prosecutors must indict based solely on police investigations — now that prosecutors have been stripped even of their supplementary investigative authority, eliminating prosecutorial discretion.

"This means the checks prosecutors provided on police investigations, and the safeguards for human rights, have disappeared," Hong added.

Hong said the public was now experiencing firsthand "an era of unchecked, all-powerful police authority."

"Once a suspect is detained, the ability to mount a defense is curtailed and every aspect of that person's daily life collapses," Hong said. Hong added that the principle of conducting investigations without detention should be established for all criminal cases unless they involve clear and serious offenses.

On the decision to resume legal practice, Hong said it was "not because of money" but out of a desire to offer whatever small help could be given to people close to Hong who were caught up in legal disputes. "There is no office, no managing clerk, no staff. All legal services are free, and my home is my office," Hong said.

Hong went on to say that there were serious doubts about whether the truth could be uncovered when prosecutors, at the warrant application stage, had only the authority to review case files and conduct questioning. "The unchecked absolute authority exercised during the police investigation process will give rise to a great many human rights violations going forward," Hong added.


yul@heraldcorp.com