Appeals court upholds suspended prison term for minor-party lawmaker over election law violations

▲ Rep. Lee Eun-joo of the minor opposition Justice Party speaks at a general meeting in the National Assembly in this file photo taken Nov. 22, 2022. (Yonhap)

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Appeals court upholds suspended prison term for minor-party lawmaker over election law violations

SEOUL, Nov. 9 (Yonhap) -- An appellate court on Thursday upheld a suspended prison term for Rep. Lee Eun-joo of the minor opposition Justice Party for election law violations, a sentence heavy enough to remove her from parliament if confirmed by the Supreme Court.

The Seoul High Court sentenced Lee to eight months in prison, suspended for two years, on charges of violating the Political Funds Act, and the article that bans lawmakers from providing contributions to people in their constituency or connected to the constituent under the Public Official Election Act.

By law, lawmakers lose their parliamentary seats if they are convicted of election law or political fund law violations and sentenced to a fine of 1 million won (US$762) or more.

Rep. Lee was accused of running for the party's proportional representation seat while serving as the policy director for Seoul Metro's labor union in 2020.

Under the relevant law, full time employees of Seoul Metro are considered public officials and thereby prohibited from electioneering.

On Thursday, the court found Lee guilty of unlawfully receiving political funds of 3.12 million won from 77 union members in 2019, and offering meals worth about 370,000 won to election campaigners.

The court, however, acquitted the lawmaker of charges that she made phone calls to party members to appeal for their support in the election, in violation of the law that bans electioneering at night.

Rep. Lee said she will appeal to the Supreme Court.

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