hankyoreh

Jan Erik Wetzel

South Korea’s highest court has upheld a three-year prison sentence for Han Sang-gyun, president of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU). The international community has publicly denounced the ruling for violating international legal standards related to the freedom of expression and the freedom of assembly and has called for Han’s release.

On May 31, the second panel of the Supreme Court (chaired by Justice Kim Chang-suk) rejected the appeal of Han, who had been jailed on charges of orchestrating illegal activities in 13 demonstrations, and confirmed the lower court’s ruling, sentencing him to three years in prison and a fine of 500,000 won (US$444). Han’s arguments that the police had broken the law by setting up police vehicles barricades and using water cannons during the “popular indignation rallies” was rejected for the same reasons as the lower court. The court apparently accepted the majority of the police’s rigid interpretation of the demonstrations. In Han’s first appeal, the court found that the police had “executed their legal duties.” “The police used the police vehicle barricades to block the demonstrators’ march because of the emergency situation involving the collapse of the police line, and it’s not fair to say that the water cannons were all illegal, even if there were some illegal aspects of their operation,” the court ruled.

Han was indicted in Jan. 2016 for violating the Assembly and Demonstration Act, interfering with business, and blocking traffic during 13 demonstrations that he organized between 2012 and Sep. 2015. The lower court sentenced him to five years in prison and a fine of 500,00 won, finding that “Han bears a great deal of responsibility for leading and instigating unlawful behavior,” but on appeal he was cleared of some of the charges against him and his prison sentence was reduced to three years. “Some actions by the police appear to have provoked the demonstrators,” the appeal court said.

The ruling has provoked widespread criticism from the international community. Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty International’s regional director for East Asia, called the ruling, “a further setback for justice and human rights in South Korea”. “We will continue our campaign for Han’s release,” said Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, who is currently visiting South Korea. The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD), which is affiliated with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), had already described Han’s incarceration as an “arbitrary detention” that violates the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The European Parliament has also criticized South Korea for not protecting labor rights, citing the detention of labor union leaders such as Han.

“Never before in any country of the world has the leader of a labor movement been detained. In order to guarantee human rights and labor rights that meet international standards, as exemplified by the UN’s and the International Trade Union Confederation’s recommendations for President Han Sang-gyun’s release, and in keeping with the standards of justice, we ask for him to be granted a pardon,” the KCTU said in a statement issued on May 31.

By Yeo Hyeon-ho, senior staff writer

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