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The Seoul District Civil Court on Friday ruled against 11 prosecutors from its office in their slander suit against the Chosun Ilbo. The prosecutors, who were asking for W1.1 billion ($930,000) in damages, had taken issue with a September 2001 article in which the Chosun Ilbo said prosecutors were skirting legal requirements when tracing bank accounts, such as by going through the Financial Supervisory Service.
The court said in its ruling that the media should be granted latitude when reporting about violations by prosecutors because prosecutors, when conducting their investigations and releasing their conclusions, have enormous influence on the private lives and human rights of the people involved. The court concluded that the Chosun Ilbo's report, which was based on fact, appeared to have no malicious intent, and amounted to appropriate criticism from the media.
The court also said that it agreed that prosecutors, by tracing accounts with the help of supervisory body, were dodging the requirement to get a warrant, which is called for by several laws.
(Kim Su-yong, jsy@chosun.com )
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