September 23- The NHRCK requested the Prosecutors’ Office to conduct an investigation against the five police officers of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency who injured wheelchair users with their shields in the course of suppressing a mass rally.
Mr. P, the representative of an organization for the persons with disabilities, filed a complaint to the NHRCK in August 2008, claiming that an auxiliary police severely injured a wheelchair bound person with disability with a shield, breaking his cheekbone during the mass rally for a budget increase in welfare for the persons with disabilities on 19 August 2008.
During the investigation conducted by the NHRCK, the perpetrator and other involved police offers denied having injured the victim, but overall evidence such as witness testimony, X-ray pictures and the victim’s medical documents and 119-escort to a hospital all substantiate the probability of the victim sustaining an injury by a sharp and thin object.
According to the Provisions for Using Articles by Police Officers, such articles must be used to the minimum extent. It explicitly prohibits against using such objects to attack squarely in the face. The NHRCK saw the act of assaulting the persons with disabilities as criminal, falling under Article 125 of the Criminal Law.
Accordingly, the NHRCK decided to request a criminal investigation against the police officers and the auxiliary police who were involved in the suppression of a mass rally.
