Lee Im-jae, former chief of Yongsan Police Station, who was arrested and indicted for poor response to the ‘Itaewon Halloween Disaster’, appealed to the court for permission to bail, saying, “There is no fear of escape or destruction of evidence.”
At 11:10 am on the 30th, the 11th Division of the Criminal Agreement of the Seoul Western District Court (Chief Judge Bae Seong-joong) conducted a bail interrogation date for former chief Lee and Song Byeong-ju, former chief of the 112 Situation Department of Yongsan Police Station, who were arrested and indicted on charges of negligence and misconduct. Former chief Lee and former chief Song submitted bail applications to the court on the 20th and 23rd, respectively.
Lee, who appeared at the trial wearing a shroud, cried, saying, “I had many concerns about applying for bail,” and said, “I’m sorry to say this, but my wife and family were having a hard time, so I mustered up the courage to apply.” Former Chief Lee said, “I hope that this case will be a trial that will clearly cover up this case and prevent this unfortunate incident from happening again,” and said, “I have never thought about destroying evidence or running away.”
The former chief’s lawyer asked for permission to bail, saying, “From the investigation to the court, there was no attempt to destroy or attempt to destroy evidence메이저사이트.” He also claimed that there was no evidence to destroy the key witness, Jeong Hyeon-wook, who was the head of the operational support team at the 112 Situation Room in Yongsan-seo. He also asked to consider the fact that he had already acknowledged the objective factual relationship and that there was no concern about harming the victim’s family.
Director Song’s side requested that he consider the fact that he responded to both the police special investigation headquarters and the prosecution’s investigation. Song’s lawyer said, “There were 5 summons in the special edition and 3 investigations by the prosecution, and all of them faithfully appeared.” Director Song also said, “I pray for the souls of those who have passed away for six months every hour and reflect on it.”
Prosecutors objected, saying, “A large crowd was expected on Halloween Day, and there were precautions to prevent an accident, but social criticism for the defendants’ failure to comply should not be overlooked.”
Chief Lee and Song were charged with increasing the scale of the disaster (work negligence by accident) by failing to take appropriate measures, such as not taking measures to prevent accidents even though a large crowd was expected on the day of the disaster, and not deploying a riot police even after radio calls were heard. Arrested on January 18th. Former chief Lee is also accused of instructing the arrival time and details of rescue activities to be falsely recorded in the situation report (preparation and event of false public documents) in order to cover up the poor response.
On the 7th, the court granted the bail of Park Hee-young, head of Yongsan-gu Office, and Choi Won-joon, former head of the safety and disaster department, who were indicted for charges such as work-related negligence and accidental death. Park Seong-min, former head of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Public Security Information and External Affairs Department, and Kim Jin-ho, former head of information at the Yongsan Police Station, were also arrested on charges of instructing the deletion of four intelligence reports that contained a large crowd expected to gather in the Itaewon area during Halloween after the disaster. work was released