[Editorial] Other Retrials Needed for Crimes by the State

court has decided to allow a retrial in the "People's Revolutionary Party Reconstruction Committee" case. The first trial has been a shameful scar in Korean history for being "judicial murder." The decision is the result of persistent work on the part of the families of the deceased, and religious and human rights groups. It is unfortunate, however that the deceased only now have the chance to have their honor restored, 30 years after they were executed a day after the eight men were sentenced to death, all the more so if you think of how their families had to go through life labeled "commies' families." Just a year ago Yi Jae Hyeong, who spent eight years in prison after being implicated in the same case, died without being able to hear about the retrial. That retrial needs to come in a timely manner because most of those who were linked to the case are well advanced in age.

It remains very difficult for victims of human rights abuses and cases concocted through torture during the dictatorship years to have their honor restored. Current law strictly limits reason for retrial to "instances where there was torture or other fabrication of evidence," so opportunities to overturn wrongful convictions are rare. In the People's Revolutionary Party case, there would have been little chance of a retrial had the Commission on Suspicious Deaths and the National Intelligence Service not revealed that torture was involved in fabricating the case against the accused. In most cases like these an organ of the state has either thoroughly destroyed the evidence or also fabricated the court records. The courts need to stop being so stingy with the legal interpretations and take a profoundly changed approach to considering reasons for retrials in such cases. One way to go about that would be to revise the law so that courts can accept the findings of the recently started truth commission.

The country should also quickly examine the idea of excluding or extending the statute of limitations for civil claims regarding crimes by the state. It is not right for the state to say it did wrong but will not make amends because the statute of limitations has expired. Legal stability is important, but the social benefits of the law are more important. It is a big shame for our society that the National Security Law, the origin of so many state crimes, will not be dealt with before the year is out.

The Hankyoreh, 28 December 2005.

[Translations by Seoul Selection]