The special counsel team investigating insurrection charges (led by Special Counsel Cho Eun-suk) has again sought a 15-year prison sentence for former Interior Minister Lee Sang-min in his appellate trial, after he received a prison term in the first trial for ordering power and water cutoffs to media outlets during the December 3 emergency martial law.
The special counsel made the request at the final hearing on Lee's charges of engaging in key insurrection duties, held Wednesday before Criminal Division 1 of the Seoul High Court (Chief Judge Yoon Sung-sik). "We request a sentence of 15 years in prison," prosecutors told the court. The request matches the sentence sought in the original trial. The ruling is scheduled for 3 p.m. on the 12th of next month.
"As a legal professional who served as a judge for 15 years, he clearly recognized the unconstitutionality and illegality of the emergency martial law, yet participated in a crime that destroyed the constitutional order," the special counsel said. "He attempted to create favorable public opinion toward the martial law by completely blocking specific media outlets."
The prosecution added, "The court should consider that he committed perjury to hide his own culpability and maintained an uncooperative attitude throughout the investigation and trial, without remorse or apology."
In his final statement, Lee said, "The emergency martial law, which no one could have anticipated and which was bewildering, was the same for me." He continued, "A phone call I made to the fire commissioner out of concern over a document I happened to see has become such a heavy noose that I now face insurrection charges."
Lee pleaded, "Please fully consider this case not through the political frame or lens of participating in an insurrection, but from the standpoint of a public official caught in the unprecedented situation of martial law, which I could not have imagined even in my dreams."
Lee was indicted on charges of calling then-Fire Commissioner Heo Seok-gon under instructions from former President Yoon Suk-yeol during the emergency martial law and ordering power and water cutoffs to certain media outlets including The Hankyoreh and MBC. He also faces perjury charges for testifying during Yoon's impeachment trial proceedings that he "never ordered power or water cutoffs."
The first-trial court in February found Lee guilty of engaging in key insurrection duties and perjury, sentencing him to seven years in prison.
