There is no small number of people who were obviously tortured into confessing to be spies but who have still not been given the opportunity to prove as much in court. Sin Gwi Yeong was arrested in 1980 in the "Korean from Japan spy affair" and served 15 years in prison. Since 1994 he has collected evidence showing that the "evidence" used to convict him was fabricated and submitted applications for a retrial, but twice the Supreme Court has turned him down. Victims of the "People's Revolutionary Party Reconstruction Committee" case, determined by the Committee on Suspicious Deaths to have been a fabrication, applied for a retrial in early 2003. It was postponed by a year and eight months, and it begins next week.
They say Ham had a relatively easy time at finally getting a not guilty verdict. That would be because torture master Yi Geun An was caught in 1999 and admitted to having tortured him. There you had clear proof of Ham's innocence, yet it still took the justice system three years to accept his petition for a retrial and then five more to get his guilty verdict overturned. It is most regrettable that the courts are so uncooperative about giving retrials in cases where it is suspected that the confessions were torture-induced.
Torture is the cruelest way to destroy a person's dignity. Ham has gotten his reputation back, but it is still heartbreaking when you think of how he will forever be unable to reclaim the years he lost when he was trampled on by sinister state authority. The courts need to be brave in correcting wrongful judgments by giving more people like Ham the opportunity for a retrial, to at least somewhat ease their pain. One hopes to see the "Truth and Reconciliation Committee on Unanswered Questions of Recent History" have the scope of its inquiry powers expanded when it starts its activities in November.
The Hankyoreh, 16 July 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
