Woo Hong-seon

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Charge:	Treason
Sentence:	Death and Executed
Years Imprisoned:	1
Year Crime:	1974
Year Convicted:	1975
Year Cleared:	2007
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Republic of Korea (South Korea)
County or Region of Crime:
City of Crime:	Seoul
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Posthumously after Execution
Summary of Case:	"Lee Su-byeong, Woo Hong-seon, Song Sang-jin, Seo Seo Do-won, Ha Jae-wan, Kim Yong-won, Doh Ye-jong, and Yeo Jeong-nam were eight co-defendants were wrongly convicted in 1975 of treason against South Korea for attempting to organize a revolutionary organization. Subjected to extreme torture tactics, all eight men confessed to belonging to the People’s Revolutionary Party and working with North Korea to create a communist Korea. Known as the “PRP” Eight, the men were sentence to death and executed in 1975 by hanging. After it became known that the PRP was a non-existent organization created out of thin air by South Korea's Central Intelligence Agency to provide a reason to dispose of people critical of government policies. In January 2007 all eight men were posthumously exonerated after a retrial. In August the families of the eight men were awarded $3.49 million each, plus 5% interest on the award for the 32 years from 1975 to 2007."
Conviction Caused By:	Tortured into falsely confessing to belonging to the non-existent People's Revolutionary Party. The police fabricated the existence of the PRP to have an excuse to silence government critics.
Innocence Proved By:	Exonerated of treason after a posthumous retrial in January 2007.
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:	US$3.49 million plus 5% interest each year from 1975 to 2007.
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:
Age When Released:
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	Asian
Information Source 1:	"Eight South Koreans Exonerated 32 Years After Being Executed For Treason — Relatives Awarded $67.4 Million, By Hans Sherrer, Justice Denied magazine, Issue 38 (Fall 2007), September 16, 2007"
Information Location 1:	http://justicedenied.org/wordpress/archives/56
Information Source 2:	"South Korea Court Orders Government To Pay $28 Million To The Families Of Eight Men Wrongfully Executed, By Windsor Genova (staff writer), AHN (South Korea), August 21, 2007"
Information Location 2:	http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7008268878
Information Source 3:	"Families of eight wrongfully executed political prisoners awarded compensation, The Hankyoreh (Seoul), August 22, 2007"
Information Location 3:	http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/230608.html
Information Source 4:	"Families of eight wrongfully executed political prisoners awarded compensation, By Staff, The Hankyoreh, August 22, 2007"
Information Location 4:	http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/230608.html
Information Source 5:
Information Location 5:
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Go to Database Search Page

Go to Database Index Page

Woo Hong-seon

Charge:

Treason

Sentence:

Death and Executed

Years Imprisoned:

1

Year Crime:

1974

Year Convicted:

1975

Year Cleared:

2007

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Republic of Korea (South Korea)

County or Region of Crime:

City of Crime:

Seoul

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Posthumously after Execution

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Tortured into falsely confessing to belonging to the non-existent People's Revolutionary Party. The police fabricated the existence of the PRP to have an excuse to silence government critics.

Innocence Proved By:

Exonerated of treason after a posthumous retrial in January 2007.

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

US$3.49 million plus 5% interest each year from 1975 to 2007.

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

Age When Released:

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

Asian

Information Source 1:

"Eight South Koreans Exonerated 32 Years After Being Executed For Treason — Relatives Awarded $67.4 Million, By Hans Sherrer, Justice Denied magazine, Issue 38 (Fall 2007), September 16, 2007"

Information Location 1:

http://justicedenied.org/wordpress/archives/56

Information Source 2:

"South Korea Court Orders Government To Pay $28 Million To The Families Of Eight Men Wrongfully Executed, By Windsor Genova (staff writer), AHN (South Korea), August 21, 2007"

Information Location 2:

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7008268878

Information Source 3:

"Families of eight wrongfully executed political prisoners awarded compensation, The Hankyoreh (Seoul), August 22, 2007"

Information Location 3:

http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/230608.html

Information Source 4:

"Families of eight wrongfully executed political prisoners awarded compensation, By Staff, The Hankyoreh, August 22, 2007"

Information Location 4:

http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/230608.html

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case: