Home > National > Politics

Prosecutors, judges clash over revealing Yongsan fire probe

Published: 15 Jan. 2010, 20:37

Tension between prosecutors and a local court has deepened after the court decided Wednesday to authorize an attorney defending nine squatters on trial to view and copy investigative records of the incident.

The squatters are on trial for their involvement in a fire that killed five squatters and a SWAT officer, which erupted during an eviction from a Yongsan redevelopment site in January last year.

After carefully examining the records, the attorney argued yesterday that the decision to send SWAT officers was “use of excessive force.”

Kim Hyeong-tae represents the nine squatters who were handed prison terms for interfering with government officials and the killing of the SWAT officer in a trial last October.

According to Kim, some senior police officials said in the records that if they had known details about the ongoing situation ? in which squatters were launching Molotov cocktails from the watchtower ? they would’ve halted the dispatch of a SWAT team to the roof of the Namildang building on Jan. 20, 2009.

Neither top-level police officials nor SWAT teams were informed of the watchtower on the roof by officers already at the scene, according to the records.

“If I had received reports that [squatters] were throwing Molotov cocktails and paint thinner from the watchtower on the roof, I would’ve halted the operation,” wrote a police officer who commanded the raid.

Another officer reportedly said: “If we had been the ones who had the authority decide on the operation, we would’ve stopped the raid.”

The convicted squatters have appealed the case and are awaiting a second trial.

“Because the police officers stated in the investigation records that they would’ve stopped the SWAT operation, I believe the police raid on the building was use of excessive force,” Kim said.

The defense’s legal team originally planned to disclose all 1,730 pages they obtained from the court in a press conference yesterday but decided not to, citing legal issues.

“I have obtained testimony from two SWAT officers and a regular police officer who put out the fire saying the cause of the blaze had nothing to do with Molotov cocktails,” Kim said. “I will present them as witnesses.”

Prosecutors say the blaze was caused by the incendiaries. They said Kim is distorting and exaggerating facts, adding that the testimony of SWAT officers could vary depending on their location and the time they entered building.

A defendant testified in the trial that the fire was caused by Molotov cocktails, and the court in the first trial also said squatters launched the fiery projectiles.

Prosecutors said police were aware that the squatters had prepared an arsenal of incendiaries. “The police officers’ statements in investigation records cannot be used as proof of the defendants’ innocence. That’s why they have not been disclosed, said senior prosecutor Shin Kyeong-sik.

By Lee Chul-jae, Kim Mi-ju [[email protected]]