Cho Kuk, head of the Rebuilding Korea Party's Innovation Policy Research Institute [Yonhap]
Cho Kuk, head of the Rebuilding Korea Party's Innovation Policy Research Institute [Yonhap]

Cho Kuk, head of the Rebuilding Korea Party's Innovation Policy Research Institute, warned Friday that the so-called "fabricated indictment" special prosecutor act, which the Democratic Party of Korea is expected to push through a plenary session of the National Assembly, could raise constitutional and legal problems.

Cho made the remarks on his Facebook page, saying "applying an already-invalidated old law for a special prosecutor investigation raises constitutional and legal issues."

The provision Cho singled out is Supplementary Article 6 of the special prosecutor act bill, which states that "the investigative and command authority of prosecutors shall follow the regulations in effect before the revised Code of Criminal Procedure takes effect."

Cho said that even if prosecutors with investigative capacity are needed to probe alleged fabricated investigations by the prosecution, "prosecutors are no longer investigative authorities." He warned that "if the bill passes with a provision that gives courts room to refer it to the Constitutional Court, the trial could be suspended — a truly disastrous outcome."

On the ongoing filibuster — the tactic of unlimited debate used to legally obstruct legislative proceedings — against the special prosecutor act, Cho proposed that lawmakers "consider wrapping up the current bill after the filibuster ends and putting an amended version to a vote."


bigroot@heraldcorp.com