Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
The South Korean woman was justified after the court revised her decades of criminal records from the man’s language during a sexual attack.
Choi Mal-ji was 18 when she was convicted of heavy harm and sentenced to 10 months in prison. Her aggressor, 21 years old, received a lighter term in six months.
After a long -term clearing company, her name began in the southern city of Busan in July. At the first hearing, The prosecutors apologized to her And, an unusual step, the court asked to give up criminal record.
“I couldn’t allow this case to remain unanswered … I (I wanted) to defend other victims who share the same fate as mine,” said Ms Choy after the acquittal.
In adolescence, the incident then changed her fate, “turning (I) from the victim to the accused.”
“People around me warned me that it would be like throwing eggs into the rock, but I couldn’t let this business,” said Ms Choy, now 79.
She thanked her supporters and called on those who said in power, “abused their powers to trample the weak and manipulate the law.”
Ms Choi’s case was given in legal textbooks in South Korea as a classic example of a court that does not recognize self -defense during sexual abuse.
According to the court records, the attacker pressed Mrs. Cho to the ground somewhere in the southern city of Himch. She managed to release about 1.5 cm (0.59 inches) only.
The man constantly demanded compensation for the injury and even once broke into the house of Mrs. Cho, South Korean media reported.
In one of South Korea’s most controversial rulings against sexual abuse, a man was sentenced to six months in prison – two years – for violation and intimidation. He was never blamed for trying to rape.
Ms Choy received a tougher sentence for causing him serious bodily harm, and the court at the time stated that her actions exceeded the “smart boundaries” of self -defense.
She was detained for six months during the investigation and later received a 10-month term, which was rejected for two years.
In 2018, inspired by the Global Movement #metoo, which also has Took to South KoreaMs Choi turned to the propaganda groups and spent about two years, collecting evidence before submitting a motion for re -examination.
Her way to release was difficult. The lower courts rejected her petition, stating that there was no evidence confirming her self -defense requirements.
Ms Choi fought, saying he did not want to see how other victims of sexual violence are experiencing what they did. “(They) should not bear pain alone,” she said in Korea in the previous interview.
Finally, in December 2024, the Supreme Court applied for the resumption of the case.
Outside the trial on Wednesday, Ms Choy and her supporters smiled, some of them kept the posters who said, “Choi Mal-Ji did it!” And “Choi Mal-Ji succeeded.”
Ms. Choi’s lawyer, who Su-Jung, called the former conviction as “misconception because of gender prejudice and public perception.”
“Thanks to the relentless struggle, Choi Mal-Ji, never refusing, persecution and the judiciary were given the opportunity to correct this mistake today,” said Ms. Kim.
She added that Ms Choy plans to file a civil lawsuit against the state to search for compensation.
Korea Women’s Hotline, one of the groups that supported Ms Choi in her campaign, believes that the sentence will open the way to justice for victims of sexual abuse on Wednesday.
“When going forward, women’s defensive actions will be understood as legitimate. I suppose it will mean that fewer women will face unjust suffering,” says Song Ran, who heads the group.
“At least he will send a message to the victims. Even if the process you are experiencing now is painful and unfair, he says, ‘Your voice matters. “Tell me,” says BBC.
In South Korea, women had at least two more cases that bitten the languages ​​of sexual attackers – one in 1988 in the city of Andndong and the other in 2020 in Pusan. In both cases, the courts acknowledged that the women did as legal self -defense acts and ruled in favor of them.
