Latest news with #Prosecutors
Yahoo
23-07-2025
- Yahoo
Apology for S Korean woman convicted of biting man's tongue as he attacked her
Prosecutors in South Korea have apologised to a woman who was convicted for defending herself during a sexually violent attack more than 60 years ago. Choi Mal-ja was sentenced to 10 months in prison, suspended for two years, for biting off part of her attacker's tongue as he allegedly tried to rape her in 1964, when she was 18 years old. Inspired by the country's #MeToo movement, Ms Choi, now 78, has campaigned for years to have her conviction overturned. Her retrial began in the city of Busan on Wednesday, where prosecutors issued an apology and asked for the court to quash her guilty verdict. "For 61 years, the state made me live as a criminal," Ms Choi told reporters outside the court ahead of the hearing. She said she hoped future generations could live a happy life free from sexual violence. At the start of the trial, Busan's Chief Prosecutor Jeong Myeong-won said "we sincerely apologise". "We have caused Choi Mal-ja, a victim of a sex crime who should have been protected as one, indescribable pain and agony." A final ruling is scheduled for 10 September, with legal observers expecting the court to overturn Ms Choi's conviction. Outside the courtroom after the hearing, Ms Choi raised her fist and said: "We won!" She celebrated by embracing campaigners from civic organisations who were there to support her. #MeToo takes hold in South Korea Why women in Korea are reclaiming their short hair In 1964, an 18-year-old Choi Mal-ja was attacked by a 21-year-old man, who forced his tongue into her mouth as he pinned her to the ground in the southern town of Gimhae, according to court records. Ms Choi escaped the attack by biting off 1.5cm (0.59in) of the aggressor's tongue. The man was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for two years, for trespassing and intimidation. He was never convicted of attempted rape. Ms Choi was given a harsher sentence than her attacker for causing him grievous bodily harm. The court at the time said her actions had exceeded the "reasonable bounds" of self-defence. Ms Choi's case has since been cited in legal textbooks in South Korea as a classic example of a court failing to recognise self-defence during sexual violence. 'Justice is alive in this country' After taking inspiration from South Korea's #MeToo movement in the late 2010s, Ms Choi contacted advocacy groups to begin work on petitioning for a retrial. She filed a petition in 2020, 56 years after the attack, but it was initially rejected by the lower courts. Three years later, the Supreme Court ruled that Ms Choi's retrial could go ahead. Her fight for justice became well known in South Korea, with Ms Choi and fellow activists holding protests outside the Supreme Court building in Seoul. "I still can't believe it," Ms Choi said after Wednesday's hearing, the Korea JoongAng Daily newspaper reported. "But if the prosecution is admitting its mistake even now, then I believe justice is alive in this country."
Washington Post
15-07-2025
- Washington Post
New York carriage horse's collapse spurs a criminal trial
NEW YORK — A carriage driver went on trial Tuesday over a horse's collapse on a Manhattan street, in a criminal case that encapsulates years of modern-day strife over an old-timey tourist attraction. Prosecutors say Ian McKeever relentlessly kept driving the horse, Ryder, on an 84-degree (29-degree Celsius) day in August 2022, despite signs that the animal was struggling to pull the carriage before he went down en route back to his barn.
Al Arabiya
08-07-2025
- Health
- Al Arabiya
German authorities investigate doctor suspected of killing elderly patients
German police said Tuesday they were investigating a doctor suspected of killing several mainly elderly patients, without indicating the number of potential victims. Police and prosecutors in Itzehoe said in a statement they had opened an inquiry into the deaths of the patients. Investigators were 'reviewing previous deaths' linked to the doctor from the town of Pinneberg in northern Germany, just outside Hamburg, they said. 'Several autopsies and exhumations' had already been performed but it was expected to be 'several weeks' before the results of the forensic analysis were available. Authorities said they would not specify the number of potential cases involved in the meantime. But they said the patients were 'mostly elderly.' The allegations recall two other recent cases in Germany, where medical professionals have been charged with killing patients. In April, Berlin prosecutors charged a palliative care doctor with the murder of 15 patients aged between 25 and 94 years old. And in March, a nurse went on trial in Aachen accused of injecting 26 patients with large doses of sedatives or painkillers, resulting in the deaths of nine.
Arab News
06-07-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
South Korea prosecutors file request to detain ex-president Yoon
SEOUL: South Korean special prosecutors on Sunday filed a request to detain former President Yoon Suk Yeol on charges related to insurrection from when he declared martial law last year, the prosecutor's office said in a statement.'Detention request is related to allegations of abuse of power and obstruction of justice,' the statement from the special counsel of prosecutors investigating the December 3 incident martial law decree was lifted about six hours after it was announced when lawmakers, who had been forced to scale the walls of the assembly building to make it through a ring of security forces, voted the decree was summoned on Saturday for hours of questioning by the special counsel as part of the probe over the insurrection charges, according to the counsel lawyer was not immediately available for comment on Sunday.
New York Times
03-07-2025
- New York Times
What's Next for Sean Combs?
The federal trial of Sean Combs ended on Wednesday with the music mogul acquitted of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking, the most serious charges he had faced, but convicted on two counts of transporting prostitutes to participate in drug-fueled sex marathons. Though Mr. Combs and his lawyers were jubilant after the acquittals on the more severe charges, he still awaits sentencing at a date that is not yet scheduled. Here is what is next for Mr. Combs: Before 11 a.m. on Wednesday morning, a jubilant Mr. Combs and his family were clapping and cheering his legal team after what they considered a victory in court. But a question remained: Would Judge Arun Subramanian grant him bail to go free as he waited for his sentencing hearing? The defense proposed a $1 million bond, co-signed by Mr. Combs, his mother, his sister and Sarah Chapman, the mother of his oldest daughter, Chance. His passport would be surrendered, and his travel would be restricted to the judicial districts around New York, Los Angeles and Miami. He would also agree to drug testing. 'Today, the jury unambiguously rejected the government's allegations that Mr. Combs ran a yearslong criminal enterprise or engaged in sex trafficking — the core of the government's case,' the defense wrote. In a letter filed by the government, prosecutors argued that Mr. Combs should remain in detention in part because during the trial 'the defendant embraced the fact that he was a habitual drug user who regularly engaged in domestic abuse.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
