Lee Manhee's trial begins - Kyeongil Illbo
Shincheonji Lee Man-hee's trial begins... The first witness was "involved in the rendezvous of an aide of the Saenuri Party"
Reporter Son Seong-bae
2020-10-12 18:55
The case of Lee Man-hee (89), chairman of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, has been officially put on trial.
The Suwon District Court held the first trial at 2 p.m. on the 12th, on Lee's violation of the Act on the Prevention of Infectious Diseases and other charges, and called in four witnesses.
The charges against Lee, who was questioned today, were obstruction of duty and occupation of public facilities, including the unauthorized occupation of Olympic Park Peace Plaza by the HWPL (Heavenly Culture, World Peace and restoration of Light), an organization related to Shincheonji, in September 2015, and the unauthorized occupation of Hwaseong Sports Town in September 2017.
The first witness, Chunji Ilbo CEO, stated that an aide to the then ruling Saenuri Party lawmaker was involved in the Olympic Park rental in September 2015. "I thought the aide would have many connections so I asked for a favour," A said. "I informed of the rental only the secretary-general (representative) of the HWPL."
Prosecutors confirmed the facts by presenting a past police report, where A said, "I called Lee Man-hee directly and informed the public relations team." In response, A denied saying, "I am not in a position to communicate directly with CEO Lee Man-hee (HWPL). It was a conventional expression, with no literal meaning."
The rest of the witnesses testified that they did not report to Lee nor received specific instructions concerning the nonpermission , and that they reported to the then secretary general, who left Shincheonji afterwards, and only carried out the matters decided at the meeting of senior members of Shincheonji.
Lee's side denied all charges, just like he did the previous three sessions of the pretrial. The argument is that he did not receive reports or give orders on charges of obstruction of duty or occupation of public facilities.
Lee entered the court in a wheelchair and sat next to the defendant wearing a headset hearing aid.
The next hearing will be held at 2 p.m. on the 14th.
About Shincheonji and the Saenouri party you can also see: https://shincheonji360.blogspot.com/2020/08/what-mess-trying-to-recap-latest-events.html
Original article (Korean): http://www.kyeongin.com/main/view.php?key=20201012010002039
Disclaimer! I am neither a native Korean speaker nor a professional translator and all the English subtitles and translations are by no means official. They are just part of my personal research on SCJ that I want to share with you.
