A South Korean court acquitted a leader of a religious sect on charges of deliberately interrupting the government’s anti-virus response earlier last year after thousands of its faithful were infected with the coronavirus.
However, the Suwon District Court on Wednesday found Lee Man-hee, 89, guilty of separate charges that he embezzled more than $ 5 million in church funds and organized unauthorized worship services in public spaces. His three-year prison sentence will be suspended for four years.
Lee’s church, the Church of Jesus Shincheonji, issued a statement denying its errors and confirming the appeal plans. Kang Susana, a prosecutor in Suwon, said his office will decide whether to appeal after reviewing the decision.
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Lee Man-hee, a leader of the Church of Jesus Shincheonji, bows during the press conference in Gapyeong, South Korea, Monday, March 2, 2020. At the hastily organized press conference Lee, the leader of 88 years old from a religious sect that has the largest group of infections in the country, bowed to the ground twice and apologized for causing the “unintended” spread of the disease. (Kim Ju-sung / Yonhap via AP)
Prosecutors sought a five-year prison term for Lee, who was arrested in August before being released on bail in November. They accused Lee and his church of violating the country’s infectious disease law, deliberately hiding some church members and underestimating their meetings to avoid broader quarantines after the outbreak around the southeastern city of Daegu in February and March of the year. past.
But the court said it was not clear whether the Church’s failure to provide a complete list of its members was a crime. The collection of such basic information is not part of the specific contact tracking limits established by law, the court said.
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More than 5,000 of South Korea’s 70,212 cases of coronavirus were linked to Lee’s church.