"Non-Consensual Sexual Violence" and "Disability Mobility Rights" Constitutional Complaints Referred to Full Bench

First Final Acquittal Referred to Full Bench

Eight Cases Referred Since Introduction of Constitutional Complaint System

The Constitutional Court's full bench will review two cases: one in which a victim of "non-consensual sexual violence" is seeking to overturn a final acquittal of the perpetrator, and another involving a request to overturn a ruling on disability mobility rights.

Constitutional Court, Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jin-Hyung Kang

On June 9, the Constitutional Court convened a panel of three justices and decided to refer to the full bench the cases brought respectively by sexual crime victim A and a person with a physical disability, B, both seeking to overturn court rulings.

The case involving A concerns a defendant who was brought to trial in July 2022 on charges of quasi-rape, despite A having expressed refusal. A claims to have expressed refusal 75 times at the time.

However, the Suwon District Court, after reviewing A's testimony and audio recordings, ruled in June last year that it was difficult to consider the defendant's actions as constituting violence or intimidation severe enough to make resistance by the victim significantly difficult, and thus acquitted the defendant. Although prosecutors appealed, the Suwon High Court upheld the same decision in March this year. Since the prosecution did not appeal further, the acquittal became final.

Afterwards, A filed a constitutional complaint, arguing that her sexual self-determination and right to a fair trial had been violated by the court's decision. A's side contends that the core criterion in sexual crime cases is whether the act was consensual, and that it was unjust for the court to apply existing legal principles requiring a high threshold of violence or intimidation for a quasi-rape conviction, resulting in an acquittal.

The Constitutional Court explained that this case involves a conflict between the legal stability of the defendant, who received a final acquittal, and the victim’s request for judicial protection. The full bench will review issues such as the scope of the victim’s fundamental rights, the principle of double jeopardy, the presumption of innocence, and whether a victim’s constitutional complaint against a final acquittal can be allowed.

The disability mobility rights case, also referred to the full bench, seeks to overturn a ruling that limited the obligation to provide bus wheelchair boarding facilities to only certain routes. The Constitutional Court determined that this case also warranted a substantive review, and it passed the preliminary screening.

With these two cases passing preliminary review on this day, a total of eight cases have been referred to the full bench since the implementation of the constitutional complaint system on March 12. As of the previous day, of the 877 constitutional complaints filed, 736 have been dismissed.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.