Yoon Mi-hyang, an independent senator, is present at the trial of the embezzlement case sponsored by the Justice Memory Regiment held at Seoul West District Court in Mapo-gu, Seoul, on the 28th of last month. News 1
Yoon Mi-hyang, a nonpartisan lawmaker who is on trial for embezzling sponsorship money for comfort women victims, is appealing to his fellow Democratic Party members to withdraw his expulsion from the legislature.
Yoon sent a text to Democratic lawmakers on the 8th, saying, ” The enforcement of the excommunication is a serious violation of human rights. It was said that he asked to cooperate with the withdrawal.” In a text of regarding 4,000 characters, Senator Yoon said,”The attempt to convict me as a criminal with only the charges laid once morest me defies the principle of the presumption of innocence.”
Yoon countered that most of the allegations made once morest him were concluded without charge in the course of the investigation, and that the prosecution was not guilty of the charges. On charges of embezzling KRW 100 million in donations and Jung Yeon funds, “the amount of KRW 100 million charged by the prosecution tied up spending over nine years from 2012 to 2020,”and “Charged me with embezzling KRW 100 million in public activities such as meals with my grandmothers, making me unscrupulous.”
Yoon said that when the prosecution accused him of fraud for donating the prize money for women’s human rights to Jung-yeon, Gil Won-ok’s grandmother, who has dementia, “At a time when the prosecution claimed that she was dementia, her grandmother conducted a variety of activities at home and abroad. I just hope that denying my grandmother’s precious activities and life will no longer last.”
The Democratic Party is still in a position to excommunicate Yoon and Park Deok-hyum and Sang-jik at the Provisional National Assembly in February. The disciplinary measure once morest these lawmakers was set up by the Special Committee on Ethics of the National Assembly on the 27th of last month.
Hong In-taek Reporter heute128@hankookilbo.com