The Story Of A South Korean Man Who Was Jailed For 20 Years Before It Was Decided That He Was Innocent

Photo illustration (Pham Yen / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - A man in South Korea (South Korea) spent 20 years in prison on charges he never committed. He was sentenced to prison for being accused of the murder of a girl.

This case, which is very well known in South Korea, also exposed the dark veil of law enforcement, namely the matter of torture by the police and their failure to carry out investigations.

Citing CNN, Thursday, December 17, the man was named Yoon Seong-yeo, who is now in his 50s. He was found not guilty after a retrial in Suwon regarding the 1988 rape and murder case.

Yoon Seong-yeo was accused of murdering and raping a 13-year-old girl in her bedroom in Hwaseong, which was then in the countryside and underdeveloped. The area is close to the capital city of South Korea, Seoul.

The teenager was one of ten victims of a serial murder that took place in Hwaseong between 1986 and 1991. Yoon is the only person convicted in connection with the murder.

He was sentenced to life in prison and ended up spending 20 years behind bars. In the ruling that was released, judge Park Jeong-je discovered that the police had used torture, including depriving Yoon Seong-yo of sleep and making illegal detentions to get Yoon's confession.

"As a member of the judiciary, I apologize to the defendant who is suffering from severe physical and mental illness, for the failure of the court to function properly as the last bastion of human rights. We sincerely hope that the retrial of this case will be a bit entertaining and contribute to the restoration of the defendant's honor. "said Judge Park Jeong-je.

With this trial, Yoon Seong-yo's name will be deleted from the records after 30 years of the murder. This is also a rare case in South Korea, where only a small proportion of retrial applications were accepted, according to experts.

"I am relieved that the final decision found me not guilty," said Yoon after the verdict. "I can lose the heavy burdens I've been carrying for the past 30 years and rest."

Yoon claimed not guilty for years, but was only granted a retrial after the police made inroads in the case last year. In September 2019, police announced that new DNA evidence linked at least a few murders in Hwaseong to Lee Chun-jae, who has been jailed since 1994 for raping and murdering his brother-in-law. The following month, Lee Chun-jae confessed that he was the perpetrator of the 10 murders and four others that the police did not give details.

Commissioner General of the Korean National Police Agency Kim Chang-yong said police investigations last year revealed that the police had made illegal detentions and wrong investigation techniques. He said the decision to expose past mistakes showed the police's commitment not to make the same mistakes.

"It's a shameful illegal investigation," he said. "I believe it can't happen again and that's why we need to look into it. The police are working hard not to repeat past mistakes."

Justice that will not be served

Yoon was actually able to ask for compensation for the 20 years he spent in prison. One of Yoon's lawyers, Park Joon-young, said in early 2020 that Yoon might be able to get more than $ 1 million in compensation.

However Yoon said that no amount of money was able to compensate for his 20 years incarcerated in prison. This is because the saddest impact of his accusations and imprisonment is that his reputation and family have been destroyed.

The police plan to whitewash the Hwaseong case and police failure during the initial investigation. This causes no justice for the families of the murder victims in Hwaseong.

Although Lee Chun-jae has confessed to the murder, he cannot be prosecuted in the Hwaseong case because the time limit for the case has passed. The authorities also cannot use new laws that extend the period of investigation of cases.