A man in his 40s was not indicted on suspicion of perjury after testifying that there was ‘assault on both sides’… Prosecutors say it is difficult to determine false statements

The prosecution decided not to indict a man in his 40s who was accused of perjury by conspiracy after attending the trial of the other person involved in a physical fight and testifying that it was an assault on both sides. The other person was found not guilty.

According to the legal community on the 13th, the Jinju branch of the Changwon District Prosecutors' Office found no charges against Mr. A, a man in his 40s who was sent on charges of perjury for conspiracy on the 10th of last month.

Last year, Mr. A got into a physical fight with his colleague, Mr. B, and both were sentenced to summary injunction for assault. Mr. B requested a formal trial, and the issue arose when Mr. A appeared as a witness in this trial.

Mr. A testified to the effect that there was a mutual assault between the two people, and when the court found Mr. B not guilty, Mr. B sued Mr. A on charges of perjury.

Mr. A denied the charges, saying that he made a statement based on memory and that he did not make up anything false. Person A claimed that on the day of the argument with Mr. B, a physical collision actually occurred, and that he was also diagnosed with an injury.

As a result of reviewing the CCTV footage, the prosecution confirmed that A and B fell together or used physical force, and determined that there were circumstances that made it difficult to conclude that it was one-sided violence.

In addition, given that perjury must be judged based on the entire purpose and context, not on partial expressions of the statement, it was decided not to charge because it was difficult to conclude that the statement made by Mr. A in court based on memory five months after the incident was a false testimony.

Seongcheol Lee, a lawyer at Daeryun Law Firm who represented Mr. A, said, “The key to perjury is whether the witness made a false statement while recognizing that it was against his or her memory,” and added, “Even if there are some errors or contradictions in the statement, that alone does not constitute a crime of perjury.”

He continued, “As a result of reconstructing the entire flow of the statement based on the video data and the physical situation of both parties at the time, we were able to receive a not guilty verdict by arguing that it was difficult to acknowledge the intentionality of perjury.”

Reporter Jeong Cheol-wook

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A man in his 40s was not indicted on charges of perjury, testifying to ‘two-way assault’… Prosecution: “It is difficult to determine false statements” (Shortcut)