South Korea's Suwon District Court on Wednesday acquitted the founder of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, Lee Man-hee, of charges of obstructing the government's response to the coronavirus pandemic during an outbreak at the church last year
SEOUL (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th January, 2021) South Korea's Suwon District Court on Wednesday acquitted the founder of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, Lee Man-hee, of charges of obstructing the government's response to the coronavirus pandemic during an outbreak at the church last year.
In August, the 89-year-old leader of the Christian religious group was charged with misleading health authorities on the size and locations of the church's gatherings in February and hampering health officials' contact tracing efforts. Lee is also accused of embezzling 5.6 billion won ($4.68 million) from church funds and holding unauthorized religious events from 2015-19. The church founder has denied all wrongdoings.
"We cannot punish someone on charges of obstructing antivirus efforts for leaving out certain data, when (the request) had more to do with data collection than an actual epidemiological survey," Judge Kim Mi-kyung said, as cited by the Yonhap news agency.
In February, the religious sect became a hotbed of the coronavirus after one of its members in the southeastern city of Daegu tested positive for the disease. In total, about 5,200 members of the group across the country contracted COVID-19 after one of the worshipers did not test for the virus on time, while being sick, and visited the Daegu parish several times.
