Shincheonji leader cleared of blocking South Korea’s coronavirus prevention effort
- However Lee Man-hee was convicted of embezzling billions of won from his organisation and given a suspended prison sentence
- The Shincheonji Church of Jesus was at the centre of controversy early last year when it accounted for more than half of South Korea’s infections
Lee Man-hee was convicted, however, of embezzling billions of won from his organisation and given a suspended prison sentence.
At the time, the country was enduring one of the worst outbreaks of the disease outside China, but later largely brought it under control with a testing and tracing model.
Shincheonji’s leader Lee, 89, was taken into custody in August and accused of giving health authorities inaccurate records of church gatherings and false lists of its members.
Prosecutors last month requested a five-year jail term. But the Suwon District Court found him not guilty of violating the disease control law, Yonhap news agency reported.
It was “difficult to view the refusal to share the list of facilities and members as hindering prevention efforts”, Yonhap cited the ruling as saying.