▲ National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK)
The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) has determined that police conducting prolonged late-night interrogations of a pregnant suspect constitutes a human rights violation.
The NHRCK announced on Tuesday (June 16) that it has recommended the Commissioner of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency to inspect the late-night interrogation practices of its investigators and conduct relevant job training, and has advised the Commissioner General of the Korean National Police Agency to establish measures to prevent recurrence.
According to the NHRCK, a pregnant woman, identified as A, was interrogated by investigators from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency three times between December of last year and January of this year. Each session lasted approximately 13 hours, stretching from early morning until nearly midnight.
A suffered abdominal pain and a miscarriage the day after her third interrogation.
Subsequently, A filed a complaint with the NHRCK, claiming that the mental pressure caused by the investigators' insistence on late-night questioning contributed to her miscarriage.
The investigator in charge responded to the NHRCK by stating, "There was no coercion regarding the late-night interrogations, and A herself wrote and submitted a request for late-night questioning."
Article 21 of the Ministry of Justice's Guidelines on Criminal Investigation generally restricts late-night interrogations between 9:00 PM and 6:00 AM. However, exceptions are permitted in cases such as: when a decision on whether to request an arrest warrant must be made within 48 hours of an arrest; when the statute of limitations is about to expire; or when the suspect provides specific reasons why they cannot return for further questioning.
The NHRCK investigation revealed that in this case, the investigator had informed A that late-night questioning was inevitable due to the "voluminous amount of evidence." Consequently, A submitted a request for late-night interrogation, citing reasons such as "desire for investigation within the year" and "requested for the sake of a speedy investigation."
Regarding this, the NHRCK pointed out, "This does not constitute a specific reason why re-attendance is difficult." The commission added, "A's formal consent, prompted by the investigator's request for late-night questioning, renders the investigation guidelines—which aim to eradicate coercive investigation practices and prevent human rights violations such as false confessions—meaningless."
Furthermore, the NHRCK determined that although the investigator was aware of A's pregnancy, it was difficult to conclude that they had given sufficient consideration to this fact when deciding whether to proceed with late-night or prolonged interrogations, and thus failed to take adequate protective measures for A.
To prevent recurrence, the NHRCK recommended that the Commissioner General of the Korean National Police Agency require suspects to clearly state specific reasons why they cannot return for further questioning when submitting a request for late-night interrogation, and mandate that investigators record the health status of suspects in the interrogation report if the suspect discloses it.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.