Constitutional Court upholds prosecutorial reform laws, acknowledges procedural violations

Politics

Published: 23 Mar. 2023, 16:56

Constitutional Court upholds prosecutorial reform laws, acknowledges procedural violations

Constitutional Court President Yoo Nam-seok and other justices take their seats ahead of ruling on the constitutionality of laws weakening the prosecution's investigative powers at the court in Jongno District, central Seoul, Thursday afternoon. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

The Constitutional Court on Thursday upheld a pair of controversial laws meant to weaken the prosecution's investigative powers railroaded by the Democratic Party (DP) in the National Assembly last year.

However, the court acknowledged that that the DP-controlled National Assembly violated the rights of People Power Party (PPP) lawmakers last year in the process of passing the prosecution reform bills, partially siding with the PPP.

In June 2022, Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon and a group of six prosecutors filed a joint petition with the Constitutional Court against the National Assembly asking that it void two prosecution reform laws passed during the preceding administration, claiming it violated the prosecution's right to investigate and prosecute.

Two PPP lawmakers — Reps. Yoo Sang-bum and Jun Joo-hyae — filed a separate complaint with the court over the flaws in the procedure by which the bills were passed through the parliamentary judiciary committee.

Accordingly, the court deliberated the constitutionality of the amendments to the Criminal Procedure Act and Prosecutors' Office Act, as well as of the process by which both were passed by the liberal DP in the National Assembly.

In Thursday's ruling, the Constitutional Court found that the procedure by which the bills were passed in the National Assembly's legislation and judiciary committee violated the deliberation and voting rights of the PPP lawmakers.

However, the court ultimately refused to render the two prosecution reform laws themselves null and void.

The court also dismissed the justice minister and prosecution's petition, ruling that their arguments lacked substance.

The court said the justice minister "doesn't directly exercise the right to investigate and prosecute" and thus had no standing.

It also found that prosecutors' constitutional rights had not been violated, noting that revising laws is a legislative matter, while the prosecution is a state agency under the executive branch.

The nine-member Constitutional Court reached its rulings with a majority of five justices.

In April 2022, the DP, which held — and continues to hold — a parliamentary majority, pushed two controversial bills aimed at stripping the prosecution of its investigative powers through the parliamentary judiciary committee without support from the PPP. The DP passed the bills at separate parliamentary plenary sessions on April 30 and May 3.

In May 3, 2022, then President Moon Jae-in promulgated them into law at his last Cabinet meeting, just six days before leaving office, as his successor President Yoon Suk Yeol, a former prosecutor general under his administration, was expected to veto the bills.

The amendments to the Criminal Procedure Act and Prosecutors' Office Act limited the scope of the prosecution's supplementary investigations and reduced prosecutors' direct investigative authority from six major categories of crime to just two — corruption and economic crimes.

The laws went into effect last September.

The PPP lawmakers in their petition asked the court to review whether the rights of PPP lawmakers to deliberate on bills and cast votes were violated in passage of the revisions to the two laws.

The Justice Ministry likewise in its petition to the Constitutional Court claimed that the DP did not hold public consultations or hearings on the controversial bills and gave only three days' notice before their introduction to the floor of the National Assembly, as opposed to the 10 days stipulated in parliamentary rules.

The ministry also argued that the DP orchestrated a lawmaker's "defection" in April to tip the scales in their favor in a parliamentary committee reviewing the bills.

A six-member committee deliberating the bills was required to include one lawmaker not from the two major parties, and Rep. Min Hyung-bae is accused of leaving the DP to nominally appear as an independent lawmaker, effectively tipping the balance of power in the DP's favor.

As a result, the committee was composed of three DP members, two PPP members, and one independent on paper, but Min eventually voted with his former party to allow for the passage of the bills through the committee stage.

The Justice Ministry also argued in its petition with the Constitutional Court that serious public harm will arise if the prosecution is stripped of its investigative powers.

The DP-controlled National Assembly argued there was no infringement on prosecutors' rights due to the revisions of the law, and that investigation rights have been adjusted in accordance with legitimate legislative procedures.

The court in Thursday's ruling determined that the chairman of the parliamentary judiciary committee departed from the neutral stance required of that position and enabled the conditions that allowed the bills to pass without a substantive review. It also faulted for him for failing to provide an opportunity for discussion at the plenary meeting of the committee in violation of regulations.

The Moon administration since its launch in 2017 pushed forward a series of reform measures to weaken the state prosecution service and transfer more investigative power to the police.

Yoon stepped down as prosecutor general in March 2021 before his tenure expired after denouncing the idea of stripping the prosecution of its investigative powers.

The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office in Seocho District, southern Seoul on Thursday ahead of the Constitutional Court’s ruling on the constitutionality of laws weakening prosecutors’ investigative powers. [NEWS1]

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]