the scope of usual duties expected by the public of the police and was a violation of Article
268 of the Criminal Code (professional negligence, gross negligence resulting in
manslaughter or injury).
The Commission requested the Prosecutor's Office to indict the accused police officers
and called for the Commissioner-General of the National Policy Agency to develop
preventive measures and reinforce human rights training to its officials. It also
recommended to the Commissioner of the regional police agency in jurisdiction calling for
full inspection over the "A" police station and taking disciplinary personnel measures in
accordance with the degree of responsibility.
2) Death Case in the Suppression Process of Evictees in Yongsan, Seoul
Mr. "Z" (age 37) filed a complaint to the Commission alleging that, concerning the
death of five evictees and one police officer on January 20, 2009, the police performed
excessive suppression and prosecutors from the Special Investigation Headquarters of the
Seoul Central District Prosecutor' Office conducted biased and unfair investigation,
conducting all-night questioning without the consents and detaining them excessively long
for questioning and distorting their statements.
The Commission considered that, the police had responsibility to make reasonable
decisions over their operation and methods of the suppression based on concrete risk
evaluation of the conditions and possession of dangerous materials, and the location of the
protest venue even in the case of the illegal occupation and strikes.
It also deemed that the police had the obligation to suppress protests in a safe and
peaceful manner as much as possible and to prevent a situation to impose unnecessary use
of force in the suppression process. The Commission submitted its opinion to the Seoul
High Court.
The Commission also decided that all-night questioning and detaining excessively long
hours for questioning violated the evictee victims' right to physical integrity, their right to
counsel, and their right to the pursuit of happiness (the right to sleep and rest), respectively,
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Part II. Major Activities of the Commission