Kwon Hyunyeop Proposes Bill to Expand Retrial Rights for State Violence Cases

Collateral Relatives Within the Fourth Degree Also Eligible to Request Retrials in Cases of State Violence
"The Door to Retrial Petitions Must Be Opened Wider for the Restoration of Victims’ Rights and Honor"

Kwon Hyunyeop, Member of the National Assembly from Suncheon, Gwangyang, Gokseong, and Gurye, Jeollanam-do, of the Democratic Party of Korea, announced on July 10 that she has sponsored a partial amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act to expand the scope of those eligible to request retrials in cases involving state violence.

Hyunghyup Kwon, Member of the National Assembly.

Under the current Criminal Procedure Act, if a person convicted of a crime dies or has a mental or physical disability, only their spouse, direct descendants or ascendants, or siblings are allowed to request a retrial.

However, in cases of state violence such as civilian massacres and serious human rights violations under the Framework Act on Clearing Up Past Incidents for Truth and Reconciliation (hereinafter referred to as the Past Incidents Act), it often takes a long time to uncover the truth. By the time the facts are revealed, those with the legal right to request a retrial may no longer exist, resulting in obstacles to the remedy of victims’ rights.

In fact, in the case of the Yeosu-Suncheon 10·19 Incident in 1948 (hereinafter the Yeosu-Suncheon Incident), the families of victims who were sentenced to prison for violating a proclamation and then killed without legal procedure by counterintelligence units two years later, filed for a retrial. However, the court dismissed the request.

At the time, the victims had no spouses or children, and all of their parents and siblings had already passed away. The nephews who applied did not qualify as eligible retrial petitioners under current law, which restricts eligibility to spouses, direct descendants or ascendants, or siblings.

As a result, the victims’ families filed a constitutional complaint. In June, the Constitutional Court determined that the current provision, as applied to state violence cases, infringed upon the right to a trial and was therefore unconstitutional.

The proposed amendment stipulates that, in cases of state violence under the Past Incidents Act, such as the Yeosu-Suncheon Incident, or related cases, collateral relatives within the fourth degree of kinship would also be allowed to request a retrial.

Kwon Hyunyeop stated, "Because it takes a long time for the truth to come out in cases of state violence, the range of those eligible to request a retrial must reflect these unique circumstances. The door to retrial petitions should be widened so that the rights and honor of victims of state violence can be genuinely restored."

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