Panel rebukes Supreme Court justice for trial intervention

SEOUL, May 8 (Yonhap) -- A scandal-ridden Supreme Court justice under fire for
his alleged attempt to intervene in district courts' trials of anti-government
demonstrators has been publicly rebuked for his controversial acts but escaped
disciplinary action, court officials said Friday.
Supreme Court Justice Shin Young-chul was referred in March to the top court's
ethics committee after an internal investigation panel concluded that he sent a
series of confidential e-mails to junior judges of the Seoul Central District
Court around last October to influence trials of civic activists indicted for
illegal rallies against the government's resumption of U.S. beef imports.
Shin was serving as chief of the Seoul district court when he sent the
controversial emails.
In the emails, he called for the judges to speed up the pace of the trials. His
emails came after one of the judges questioned the legitimacy of an existing law
that bans outdoor rallies after sunset and brought it to the Constitutional Court
for review. The move effectively caused the postponement of all related cases.
The Supreme Court's ethics committee, winding up a probe that lasted several
weeks, concluded that Shin's emails and other acts allegedly intended to
intervene in court trials constituted "misleading and inappropriate" behavior.
The committee also said Shin may have attempted to violate the independence of
the judges by issuing direct and indirect instructions regarding court trial
procedures.
But the ethics panel said it would not recommend any disciplinary action against
Shin, arguing that there is no systemic mechanism to deter intervention in court
trials and the current boundary in judicial administrative authorities is
ambiguous.
Instead, the committe asked that Chief Justice Lee Yong-hoon give Shin a warning
or caution for his inappropriate actions, according to court officials.
brk@yna.co.kr
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