ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-007-2010



2 February 2010
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SOUTH KOREA: Two rights activists are arbitrarily detained

ISSUES: Arbitrary detention; human rights defender; freedom of opinion and expression
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that two rights activists have been arbitrarily detained. Before their arrest the activists had spent almost a year protesting inside the funeral ward of a hospital, with family members of victims who died during protests against an eviction in Yongsan on 20 January, 2009. One of the articles of an act being used to detain the men has been ruled against by the Constitutional Court, and is being amended, while the other is open to wide interpretation and abuse.

CASE DETAILS:

After the police raid in Yongsan on 21 January 2009, the dead evictees were widely labelled as 'terrorists' by both the prosecutor's office and the mainstream media. Members from around 100 civil, religious and rights groups reacted by forming a nationwide committee, which has urged the government to investigate, punish those responsible for the deaths, pay appropriate compensation and make appropriate plans for the related development areas. Please refer to FUA-001-2009 for more information on the Yongsan tragedy.

As representatives of the committee, Mr. Park Lae-gun and Mr. Lee Jong-hoi led various campaigns on behalf of the victims' families. These exposed and widely publicised the lack of legal protection available to victims of forced eviction, the organised and illegal use of violence by demolition companies against them, and the failure of the police to protect such vulnerable persons.

According to the arrest warrant, Mr. Park held an assembly after sunset without informing police on 23 January 2009 and held illegal assemblies that obstructed general traffic on 31 January, and the 7, 14, 21 and 28 February, 2009. Mr. Lee is accused of organising assemblies that would have posed a direct threat to public peace and order 'by inciting collective violence, threats, destruction, arson etc.' and obstructing general traffic, for protests on the dates above and 7 March. He stands accused of organising approximately 72 gatherings after sunset without informing the police, since 20 January 2009.

The arrest warrants were issued for Mr. Park on 23 March and for Mr. Lee later in March 2009, and the men responded with an open letter to the court which volunteered their surrender to the police station, after the resolution of the Yongsan incident. They spent much of the past year with family members of the victims in the Soon Chun Hyang University Hospital in Seoul, and later at Myeongdong Catholic Cathedral.

Since the Korean prime minister met with the families on 3 October 2009, and the Seoul Metropolitan government agreed to a public funeral ceremony on 9 January, 2010, the men surrendered to the police station on 11 January, 2010 and have been detained since. However the legal ground for their arrests is unstable and in one case, is clearly unconstitutional.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

There are two main legal issues involved in their detention. The first is whether an article of the act on the assemblies and demonstration can be considered unconstitutional; the second is whether the organisers can be held liable for the violent actions of a few individuals in an otherwise peaceful, well organised demonstration.

The first consideration has already been considered and challenged by the Constitutional Court. In a recent case, article 10 of the Act on Assembly and Demonstration – which prohibits assembly and demonstrations before sunrise and after sunset – and article 21(2) describing the related punishment, were ruled as unconstitutional (read more on this at: STM-202-2009). An amendment to this Act has been submitted and is under review.

Mr Park is therefore being prosecuted under an unconstitutional act. It may still be procedure to request permission for certain kinds of assembly, but these regulations are now redundant and should be adjusted by police – and certainly not used to justify an arrest. (For details: STM-016-2010). Furthermore it should be noted that the committee did apply for approval several times in January and February after being verbally assured of it by police, and their applications were rejected.

In the second case, Mr Park and Mr Lee are being held liable for the aggressive actions of a few individuals at one of the demonstrations or commemoration ceremonies. Yet it should be carefully considered whether the article is applicable. Article 5(1)((2)) withholds approval of any demonstration that "poses a direct threat to public peace and order by incident collective violence", and since it limits rights guaranteed in the constitution, it must be strictly interpreted. As organisers, Mr Park and Mr Lee did not intend or encourage aggressive acts, and their liability for these acts is not assured.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

For over a decade Mr. Park Lae-gun and Mr. Lee Jong-hoi have actively promoted and protected human rights in South Korea, as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Mr. Park spent about eight months as an investigating official at the Presidential Truth Commission on Suspicious Deaths in 2002. He has been an activist at the SARANGBANG Group for Human Rights since 1994 – particularly on issues relating to the right to life and the right to housing – and is the chief of the editorial board of a monthly magazine published by the Human Rights Foundation. The SARANGBANG Group for Human Rights investigates the alleged abuse of power by the government, the human rights situation of prisoners and other issues related to labour and the right to health.

Mr. Lee Jong-hoi campaigns frequently for the right to freedom of opinion, expression and privacy, and has been the representative of the Korean Progressive Network Jinbonet since 1998. The network provides independent network services for activists such as web-mailing, web-hosting, mailing list and various blogs, and utilises Information Technology (IT) in its investigations, providing assistance to activists who have lack of understanding on IT issues. Its major campaigns include one against a government-run database of the DNA of criminals, and the misuse of wiretapping by investigating agencies, and it has taken cases to the Constitutional Court and National Human Rights Commission, submitting reports on IT policies and their legal and administrative alternatives, and on the right to information and education.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please send your letters to the authorities below and ask them to release Mr. Park and Mr. Lee and dismiss the cases against them.

Please be informed that the AHRC has also written a letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders as well as the Working Group for arbitrary detention, requesting their intervention.

To support this appeal please click here:

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear _________,

SOUTH KOREA: Two activists should be released from arbitrary detention

Name of detainees:
1) Mr. Park Lae-gun, 49, a human rights activist from the SARANGBANG Group for Human Rights; of 398-17 3F, Junglim-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul 100-360, South Korea; imprisoned under No. 90 in Seoul Detention Center.
2) Mr. Lee Jong-hoi, 51, a human rights activist at the Korean Progressive Network Jinbonet; of 227-1 3F, Chungjungro-3ga, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 120-840, South Korea; imprisoned under No. 15 at Seoul Detention Center.

Date of arrest: 11 January, 2010

I am writing to draw your attention to the case of Mr. Park Lae-gun and Mr. Lee Jong-hoi, two rights activists who have been arbitrarily detained under the Act on Assembly and Demonstration as well as Road Traffic Act since 11 January 2010.

According to the information I have received, Mr. Park and Mr. Lee are representatives of the nationwide committee formed to campaign for a legitimate investigation and redress of evictees whose rights were violated by a redevelopment scheme in Yongsan in 2009. On 20 January six men were killed. The activists have been imprisoned for organizing several commemoration ceremonies for the deceased, and arrest warrants were issued against them in March 2009.

After the Korean prime minister visited the family members in October, 2009 and the Seoul Metropolitan government later agreed to hold a funeral ceremony for the deceased (9 January 2010), Mr. Park and Mr. Lee surrendered to a police station. They have been detained since.

However I challenge the constitutionality of their detention, based on information I have been given about the acts used to justify it. Article 10 of the Act on Assembly and Demonstration was cited in the arrest of both, yet the Constitutional Court found it unconstitutional on 24 September, 2009, and changes to the act have already been submitted.

Secondly I understand that the police banned any assembly or demonstration relating to the Yongsan incident based on article 5(1)((2)) of this Act. This is despite the fact that a number of them were commemoration ceremonies. While a few minor acts of violence by individual participants occurred in one assembly, the police have interpreted the assembly itself as illegal and the prosecutor has held the organisers liable for the acts. I question whether committee members can be considered legally responsible for acts that take place in assemblies that they organise.

It is important for the relevant article to be strictly interpreted and applied because it limits the right to peaceful assembly and demonstration, which are stipulated at the Constitution. In addition, the detention of Mr. Park and Mr. Lee is unwarranted in accordance with international norms and standards.

I therefore urge their release from their arbitrary detention, and I urge for the prosecutor general to dismiss the case so that they are no longer at risk of prosecution for enjoying rights protected by the constitution, as well as International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which the government of South Korea is a state party.

I also urge that the government in particular, with the police and the prosecutor's office, not arbitrarily use their power by interpreting and using article 5(1)((2)) of the cited act to punish organisers of peaceful assemblies and demonstrations. Instead they should aim to promote such rights by protecting participants from such violence if it occurs.


Yours sincerely,

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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Mr. Lee Myeng-Bak
President
1 Sejong-no, Jongno-gu
Seoul, 110-820
REPUBLIC OF KOREA
Fax: +82 2 770 4751
Tel: +82 2 770 0018
E-mail: foreign@president.go.kr or president@cwd.go.kr or president@president.go.kr

2. Mr. Lee Gui-Nam
Minister of Justice
88 Gwanmon-ro, Gwachon-si
Gyonggi Province 427-760
REPUBLIC OF KOREA
Tel: +82 2 503 7023
Fax: +82 2 2110 3079 / 503 7046
E-mail: webmaster@moj.go.kr

3. Mr. Kim Joon-Gyu
Prosecutor General
Supreme Prosecutor's Office
1730-1, Seocho3-dong
Seocho-gu, Seoul
REPUBLIC OF KOREA
Fax: +82 2 3480 2555
Tel: +82 2 3480 2000
E-mail: koreapros@spo.go.kr

4. Mr. Kang Hee-Rak
Commissioner General
Korean National Police Agency
Uiju-ro 91(Migeun-dong 209) Seodaemun-gu
Seoul 120-704
REPUBLIC OF KOREA
E-mail: cnpa100@police.go.kr

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)