Detention Warrants Denied for Men in Their 20s Who Assaulted Police During Jamsil Protest: "No Risk of Flight"

The two men in their twenties who assaulted police officers during the 'Jamsil Ballot Counting Center Blockade Protest' have avoided detention.

Yonhap News Agency

On the afternoon of July 2, Yang Hwanseung, the judge in charge of warrants at the Seoul Eastern District Court, held a pre-arrest interrogation (substantive warrant review) for the two men in their twenties accused of special obstruction of official duties resulting in injury. He dismissed the arrest warrants, stating, "There is no concern that they will destroy evidence or flee."

The suspects are accused of assaulting police officers from the Songpa Police Station on June 5, when ballot boxes from the 6·3 local elections were transferred from the Jamsil 7-dong No. 2 polling station in Songpa-gu to the Olympic Park Handball Gymnasium ballot counting center.

The investigation found that the suspects blocked the officers who had finished transporting the ballot boxes and continued to assault them, claiming that "an election commission employee was disguised as a police officer."

The police identified a total of three suspects and, on June 29, requested arrest warrants for two of them who were determined to have played a major role in the crime.

On this day, the defense attorney for the suspects met with reporters and stated, "We acknowledge that physical force was used against the police officers, but requesting detention warrants is excessive." He added, "We cannot accept the 'resulting in injury' part of the special obstruction of official duties charge, as the two-week treatment period stated in the medical certificate submitted by the victimized police officer cannot be recognized as an actual injury."

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