NHRC Issues Recommendation of Human Rights Education for Police Officer whose Abuse of Authority Led to Illegal Arrest
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a recommendation to Police Lieutenant Lee of Seocho Police Station in Seoul to receive special human rights education under the auspices of the NHRC. The recommendation follows an October 2002 complaint submitted by Mr. Jo, 59, claiming that his human rights were violated when, in the course of questioning, Police Lieutenant Lee handcuffed Mr. Jo, arrested him without a warrant under “emergency arrest” procedures, and subject him to violent language and verbal inducement.
The incident occurred on 18 April 2002. Mr. Jo had previously filed charges against a third party for repayment of debt. However, in the course of investigating Jo’s charges, Defendant Lee stated that he was arresting the complainant for calumny and bound the complainant in handcuffs. The defendant had thought that Jo was making false accusations because Jo’s testimony did not match a document—submitted by another person—in which terms for repayment and settlement debt are agreed upon.
The NHRC investigation found that: 1) the handwriting of the repayment agreement did not match the handwriting of Jo’s written testimony, and it would appear that the repayment agreement had been written by a different person, not Mr. Jo; 2) before arresting Jo on charges of calumny, Police Lieutenant Lee should have confirmed the veracity of the repayment agreement by contacting the person listed as the “witness,” but Lee did not make efforts to confirm whether the document was a forgery; 3) if the person being sued for repayment and the person listed as “witness” to the agreement had conflicting testimony, Lee should have undertaken joint questioning measures to resolve the question, but he did not, and 4) the complainant’s charges and his testimony during questioning were consistent.
Taking these facts into consideration, Lieutenant Lee failed to meet the requirements for conducting an emergency arrest as stipulated in article 200: clause 3: paragraph 1 of the Criminal Procedure Act, and conducted an extra-legal emergency arrest. Thus, the defendant’s behavior constitutes a violation of articles 10 (human dignity, pursuit of happiness) and 12 (right to integrity of one’s person) of the Korean Constitution and the Commission recommended human rights education in order to prevent recurrence of illegal arrest.
