Lawyers` Presence During Interrogation Session to Be Guaranteed By Law

The right of a suspect to be questioned at the presence of his lawyer will be guaranteed by law.

The Ministry of Justice has decided to put the prosecution’s internal guidance in a statutory form of the criminal code to guarantee lawyers’ participation in prosecutors’ interrogation against a criminal suspect.

A senior official at the justice ministry made it clear Wednesday that its policy committee in charge of reviewing reform plans for the prosecution is planning to deliberate on a proposal related to the issue on October 2.

The justice ministry is planning to submit a revision bill to the Criminal Procedure Code to the National Assembly within this year. The ministry is expected to work on such a revision bill by the end of next month.

If the parliament were to approve the revision bill, which will make a breakthrough in improving criminal suspect’s human rights, leading to eliminating the prosecution’s problematic investigation practice such as torture.

Justice ministry officials said, “Although the prosecution and the national police agency have made efforts to allow lawyers for criminal suspects to take part in an interrogation session, there were some limits and problems found. Therefore, we decided to make a revision to the criminal code to help suspects receive enough legal advice from their lawyers.”

Despite the existence of prosecution’s internal guidance to allow lawyers for criminal suspects to attend questioning session, the internal guidance didn’t work well because investigative agencies have refused to comply with it citing investigation convenience as reason.

In addition, the interpretation of the constitution regarding the scope of lawyers` assistance has been sharply divided. Some say that the assistance of suspects` lawyers should include their participation in an investigation while others say it should not. The prosecution has maintained the latter position so far.

Along with the move, the justice ministry has also decided to improve the current system to appoint public defenders for suspects who can`t afford to have defense lawyers. To that end, the ministry is working on measures such as securing necessary budget for the plan.

Lee Sang-hee, a lawyer of the Minbyun or Lawyers for a Democratic Society, said, “In fact, the prosecution has placed restrictions on the participation of lawyers in interrogation session. However, such a revision to the criminal code is significant in terms of protection and improvement of human rights.”

Tae-Hoon Lee jefflee@donga.com