Former police officer dismissed over 'leak of investigation information on late Lee Sun-kyun' sentenced to suspended prison term… 'Guilty' verdict upheld on appeal

*This content was translated by AI.View Original

A former police officer charged with leaking drug investigation information related to the late actor Lee Sun-kyun to outside parties was again handed a suspended prison sentence in the appellate court.

According to NEWSIS on the 10th, the Incheon District Court Criminal Appeals Division 1-1 (Presiding Judge Kim Young-wook) sentenced former Senior Inspector A of the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency to one year and two months in prison with a two-year suspension for the crimes of disclosing official secrets and violating the Personal Information Protection Act. The court also ordered 80 hours of community service.

The original sentence handed down to Reporter B, who was charged alongside A, was also maintained. B was fined 5 million won on charges of passing personal information about a subject of investigation received from A to another reporter.

This appeal was initiated after the Prosecution Service appealed, arguing that the first-instance sentence was too light. However, the court ruled that "when viewed against various sentencing conditions, the original sentence does not appear to be unreasonably light," and rejected the Prosecution Service's appeal.

A was charged with photographing and sending a report containing the progress of the investigation to two reporters from other media outlets, including B, after a news outlet first reported on Lee Sun-kyun's drug case in October 2023, as well as providing personal information about the subject of the investigation.

A, who was dismissed from the police force over this incident, filed a lawsuit against the head of the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency seeking to overturn the dismissal, but lost in both the first and second instances. The dismissal became final after A did not file an appeal to the Supreme Court.

Lee Sun-kyun was criminally registered on suspicion of drug use on October 14, 2023, and underwent three police investigations. During this period, he was found dead inside a vehicle parked near Waryong Park in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on December 27 of the same year.

Subsequently, the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency requested an investigation from the Gyeonggi Southern Provincial Police Headquarters to verify whether investigation information related to the case had been leaked externally. The Gyeonggi Southern Provincial Police Headquarters conducted the relevant investigation after conducting a search and seizure at the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency, among other measures, and referred A and others to the Prosecution Service without detention.

A separate trial is also underway regarding the leak of investigation information by the Prosecution Service. Former investigator C of the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office was charged with passing internal police preliminary investigation information related to Lee Sun-kyun's drug allegations to a reporter at a daily newspaper in the Gyeonggi region. C was sentenced to one year in prison with a two-year suspension in the first instance and is currently awaiting the appellate trial.

<© STARNEWS. All rights reserved. No reproduction or redistribution allowed.>

*This content was translated by AI.View Original