hankyoreh

Jeon Jae-sook, 68, third from right, cries out in grief after hearing the verdict of the Yongsan redevelopment tragedy and hugs her daughter-in-law Jeong Young-shin in front of the Supreme Court in Seoul’s Seocho District, Nov. 11. Jeon lost husband Lee Sang-lim and the government imprisoned her son Lee Chung-yeon due to the Yongsan Tragedy in 2009 that took the lives of five civilians and one police officer.

The Yongsan area was designated a redevelopment zone by the Lee Myung-bak administration, and many of the area’s poor residents were forcibly evicted and received paltry compensation.

Finalizing 22 months of disputes over a major fire that broke out during the police crackdown on the residents’ protest, the Supreme Court upheld Thursday the Court of Appeals verdict which pronounced nine protesters guilty, saying, “they illegally occupied a building’s rooftop in Yongsan to protest Seoul City’s urban redevelopment project.”

“The original verdict was correct in stating that the police’s operations to quell the protest were not conducting their duties improperly,” the top court said. “Molotov cocktails thrown by the protesters caused the fires at the guard tower.”

As a result, two protesters, including Lee Chung-yeon, 37-years-old and a leader of an association of Yongsan residents who were refused eviction, were sentenced five years in prison. Other five protesters, including a Mr. Kim, were founded in four years, while another defendant were found three years in prison with a four year suspended sentence and the last one two years in prison with a three year suspended sentence. The prosecutors previously cleared police officers of wrongdoing in an investigation marred by fair trial violations.

In response, the defendants said they will appeal the case to the United Nations in regard to human rights violations. Park Rae-goon, an advocate of the convicted protesters, said a group of lawyers would file a complaint with the UN Human Rights Commission.

“I believe the UN will take it differently,” Park told reporters after the ruling. “The police did not operate by the rules during the suppression. But the court ruled the protestors were fully liable for the incident. It is unfair.”

Meanwhile, the case against the police officers including then-Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Commissioner Kim Seok-ki is on trial at the Supreme Court. Evicted Yongsan residents filed the case, arguing that the police’s crackdown was improper.

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) issued an opinion in February confirming that the behavior of the police during the crackdown was illegal, and recommended indicting members of the police leadership, SMPA Commissioner Kim.

(Photo by Lee Jong-keun, Analysis by Song Gyung-hwa)