A South Korean court docket has acquitted a former Seoul police leader of fees of negligence resulting in the fatal 2022 Halloween stampede that killed 159 other people, Liter.kz studies.
Kim Kwang Ho has been charged in reference to the Itaewon tragedy.
In its verdict on Thursday, October 17, the court docket mentioned the prosecution’s proof used to be inadequate to turn out that Kim unnoticed his tasks sooner than the incident and right through the preliminary reaction.
Closing month, junior police officer Lee Im-jae used to be sentenced to 3 years in jail for failing to forestall the stampede that surprised the sector.
The decision sparked sturdy protests from the households of the sufferers.
Kim used to be handiest charged in January final yr, greater than a yr after the tragedy. The circle of relatives mentioned he must had been charged previous. He used to be fired from his place in June after receiving disciplinary motion for stampeding.
Two of Kim’s colleagues who labored as incident control officials at the day of the tragedy, Ryu Mi-jin and Jung Dae-kyung, have been additionally discovered now not to blame.
The sufferers’ households mentioned they strongly condemned the sentence and referred to as on prosecutors to enchantment.
“The court docket overlooked a possibility to mirror at the seriousness of the duty of public officers to offer protection to the lives and protection of electorate and to remind govt leaders and contributors of society of this,” the households mentioned.
Be mindful, the tragedy that surprised the sector befell at the night time of October 29, 2022. Younger other people got here to rejoice Halloween in the preferred Itaewon district, recognized for its bustling bars and eating places lining its slim streets. The weigh down befell in any such slim alleys.
In accordance to a couple assets, there have been greater than 100 thousand other people within the space that night. Video pictures of other people being pinned to demise immediately unfold around the globe and sparked accusations that government had now not taken enough measures to forestall the tragedy.
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