In the latest update for the South Korea ferry disaster in April, the prosecution team on Monday told the court that the ferry's captain, Lee Joon-seok should be sentenced to death. The captain abandoned the ship before it sank leaving more than 300 people behind.
The trial for the tragic disaster of the South Korea ferry had taken place amid intense public fury. In an update, the prosecutors have sought death penalty for the captain of the ferry that capsized in April, leaving 304 people, mostly teenage students, either dead or missing.
The tragedy was deemed as South Korea's worst peacetime disaster in decades. The 68-year-old captain of the ferry, Lee Joon-seok was charged with homicide. However, prosecutors demanded that he should be sentenced to death for failing to carry out his duty. According to the latest update by Reuters, Lee was among the 15 crew members that were indicted of abandoning the ferry.
"The captain did nothing to help rescue his passengers," Chief Prosecutor Park Jae-eok said during the court trial. "Lee supplied the cause of the sinking of the Sewol ... he has the heaviest responsibility for the accident. We ask that the court sentence him to death."
South Korean prosecutors called for life imprisonment for three other crewmen of the ferry including first mate Kang Won-sik, second mate Kim Young-ho and chief engineer Park Gi-ho. Based on an updated report by the New York Times, the prosecution demanded for 15 to 30 years jail time for the 11 other crewmen, who faced accidental homicide, criminal negligence and other charges.
A three-judge panel is expected to announce the court verdict in November. As per The Guardian's update, no formal pleas have been made but Lee has denied intent to kill. During the hearing, emotions turned suddenly hostile when evidence appeared that mostly teenage passengers were obediently waiting in their cabins for orders while the captain and the other accused crew members of the South Korea ferry escaped.
The South Korea ferry, 6,825-ton Sewol, capsized and sank on a routine journey on April 16, sparking an outburst of nationwide grief and sharp criticism of the government's failure in handling the rescue operation.
During the latest trial update, the crews have said they thought it was the coast guard's job to evacuate the passengers. But the prosecutors stated the ferry's crew members boarded the first coastguard boats arriving and leaving the waiting passengers inside the ship.
"They only cared about their own lives," one prosecutor said before a courtroom was filled with 60 relatives of the victims.
The legal team of the captain and three others indicted of murder all contended that their clients had no intention of killing the passengers. The defense also said the crew should not be blamed totally.
Most of the defendants wept during their final statements. And after the prosecution rested its case, the captain of the South Korea ferry apologized to the victims' families, saying it was never his intention to harm anyone.
"I will repent until the day I die and ask for the victims' families' forgiveness," Lee said. "I swear with my hand over my heart, I did not intend to kill anyone. I never even thought of such a thing."
Some family members of victims who attended Monday's trial had also sought death penalty however; Amnesty International said death was not the solution.
"While the South Korean court system has a reputation for being fair, as do other legal systems around the world where the death penalty still exists, public opinion can still creep in," Amnesty International Research Director for East Asia Roseann Rife stated. "The Sewol ferry accident was a great tragedy and if negligence or human error was involved, those responsible should be held to account. But the death penalty is not a solution."
There have been no executions in South Korea since 1997 though the Justice Ministry said 58 people were currently on the death row. The last carried out executions was in December 1997, when 23 convicts were hanged.
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