The National Human Rights Commission of Korea recommends the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency to admonish officers not complying with due process during investigations.
The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) recommends that the individual’s right to personal freedom be respected, in addition to due process, in police investigations. This recommendation comes as a response to a complaint submitted in September of 2006 against alleged actions of the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency staff. The recommendation to the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency recommended that the Agency admonish the three police officers involved, so as to discourage future recurrences of similar human rights abuses.
The complainant, 51-year-old “Koh,” who is also identified as the head of the Busan chapter of the Korean Teachers and Educational Workers’ Union, filed a complaint with the Commission stating that the respondents had reported charges against him and his staff in the press without sufficient evidence, even before commencement of a full-scale investigation, and executed a search and seizure of their empty office in the early morning without giving prior notice thereof.
The complainant argued that such acts constituted violations of their human rights.
Through thorough investigation, the Commission found that the respondents had
(i) reported charges against the victims in the press, in the form of an announcement of
the findings of the search and seizure, which had been conducted before charges were
booked and
(ii) executed a search and seizure of their empty office without giving due prior notice.The Commission determined that such act violated due process and the individual’s right to personal freedom.
The Commission was also able to confirm through investigation that
(i) the respondents who had been investigating an alleged violation of the National
Security Act had conducted a search and seizure of the office of the complainant and his staff at about 7:00AM, when the building was vacant, and
(ii) publicly reported the charges brought against the victims and their organization in the form of an announcement of the findings of the search and seizure on the same date.
The Commission judged that said search and seizure violated human rights as upheld by Article 12(1) of the Constitution and the main text of Article 122 and Article 123(2) of the Criminal Procedure Act because (i) the Criminal Procedure Act provides for, in principle, the right of suspects, residents, etc. to participate in the warrant execution process as well as mandatory prior notification to them to guarantee such right;
(ii) although notification of warrant execution may be omitted under 'emergency
circumstances', the vague fear of 'destruction of evidence' put forward by the police cannot be viewed as an emergency circumstance; and
(iii) emergency circumstances justifying omission of a prior notice cannot be
acknowledged without objective evidence that a warrant cannot be executed during working hours of the suspects.
The Criminal Act prohibits the reporting of charges prior to prosecution in principle. Only in the most exceptional cases, in which the general public’s right to know prevails over the suspect's personal rights and privacy, and where urgency requires swift reporting, may charges be published even before prosecution.
In the case in question, however, the charges against the complainants were publicly announced without a single investigation by the investigative authorities before the victims were booked on those charges. This apparently damaged the reputation of the complainant’s organization, leading the Commission to determine that the respondents violated the complainant’s human rights, as outlined in the main text of Article 10 of the Constitution and Article 307 of the Criminal Act.
The National Human Rights Commission of Korea was established in 2001, offering investigation and remedy services for Korean citizens and foreigners residing in Korea against human rights violations and discrimination. The Commission provides policy recommendations and remedial action against human rights infringements, collaborates with international human rights organizations and implements educational programs to improve the human rights culture.
