NHRC Issues Recommendation to Chief of Chungju Police Station to Undertake Staff Education and to Give Warnings to Related Officers
On the appeal filed by Kim (18) that he had been “dragged into a closed off room (back room) and beaten by Sergeant Ahn and other two police officers of the Investigation Department of Chungju Police Station on 28th November 2003,” the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) ruled that investigating the complainant in a sleeping room for night-duty officers instead of an investigation room without justifiable reason nor permission from the police station chief violated clauses on lawful procedures and personal liberty, which is guaranteed in article 12 of the Korean Constitution. The NHRC recommended that the Chief of Chungju Police Station undertake staff education and that the Chief give Sergeant Ahn and the two other officers warnings.
The case was raised when the complainant filed a written appeal to the HNRC that he had been slapped on the face 5 times when he denied the offenses, and was then dragged into a back room (dormitory) and beaten 4 times with a baton on his head, during the process of interrogation by the Investigation Department of Chungju Police Station. The complainant was detained by Sergeant Ahn and other officers for fraud at around noon on 20 October, 2003.
During the NHRC investigation, △ Sergeant Ahn and others testified, “The complainant confessed partly to the offenses and so we took him to the back room to let him smoke. There were no beatings.” However, the NHRC found out that △ testimonies of the police officers were inconsistent on how they went into the back room and what happened inside, △ in synthesizing the testimony from the complainant and results of field investigation, the police officers did investigate the complainant inside the back room for 10 to 15 minutes without justifiable reason nor prior permission from the Chief.
In relation to the beatings, the NHRC has concluded the claim to be false and rejected the appeal filed by the complainant on the basis of insufficient proof. The police officers strongly denied the beatings, there was no record of physical injury in the detention record of the complainant, and there were no testimonies available from other witnesses who were at that time being investigated in the detectives’ office.
However, the act of Sergeant Ahn and other officers of investigating the complainant inside a back room without justifiable reason nor prior permission from the Chief has been ruled to have violated Article 167 Clause 4 (Establishing a Voluntary Confession) of Criminal Investigation Rules and thus violated personal liberty stipulated in Article 12 of the Constitution.
Therefore, the NHRC has decided to recommend to the Chief of Chungju Police Station △ to implement special staff education on abidance of Article 167 of the Criminal Investigation Rules when interrogating accused persons in places other than interrogation rooms, and △ to give warnings to Sergeant Ahn and related officers.
