A South Korean woman has been acquitted after a court revisited her decades-old conviction for biting off the tongue of a man during an alleged sexual attack. Choi Mal-ja was 18 when she was convicted of grievous bodily harm and sentenced to 10 months in jail. Her aggressor, who was 21, received a lighter sentence of six months.
After a years-long campaign to clear her name, a retrial began in the southern city of Busan in July. In its first hearing, prosecutors apologized to her and, in an unusual move, asked the court to quash the conviction.
I could not let this case go unanswered... I [wanted] to stand up for other victims who share the same fate as mine, Ms. Choi said after the acquittal. The incident significantly altered her life, changing her from a victim to an accused.
In the years following her conviction, Ms. Choi faced continued difficulties, including harassment from her attacker who even broke into her home. At that time, the courts ruled her actions exceeded reasonable self-defense, yet failure to acknowledge her traumatic experience reflected deep-seated biases in the legal system.
In 2018, inspired by the global #MeToo movement, Ms. Choi reached out to advocacy groups and spent around two years gathering evidence before filing her petition for a retrial. Although initially rejected, the Supreme Court eventually allowed her case to be reopened. Outside the court following her acquittal, there were expressions of triumph, symbolizing not just her personal victory, but also a shift in societal attitudes towards women's rights and self-defense claims.
Ms. Choi plans to file a civil lawsuit against the state for her wrongful conviction, and advocacy groups believe her case could pave the way for justice for other victims of sexual violence in South Korea.
After a years-long campaign to clear her name, a retrial began in the southern city of Busan in July. In its first hearing, prosecutors apologized to her and, in an unusual move, asked the court to quash the conviction.
I could not let this case go unanswered... I [wanted] to stand up for other victims who share the same fate as mine, Ms. Choi said after the acquittal. The incident significantly altered her life, changing her from a victim to an accused.
In the years following her conviction, Ms. Choi faced continued difficulties, including harassment from her attacker who even broke into her home. At that time, the courts ruled her actions exceeded reasonable self-defense, yet failure to acknowledge her traumatic experience reflected deep-seated biases in the legal system.
In 2018, inspired by the global #MeToo movement, Ms. Choi reached out to advocacy groups and spent around two years gathering evidence before filing her petition for a retrial. Although initially rejected, the Supreme Court eventually allowed her case to be reopened. Outside the court following her acquittal, there were expressions of triumph, symbolizing not just her personal victory, but also a shift in societal attitudes towards women's rights and self-defense claims.
Ms. Choi plans to file a civil lawsuit against the state for her wrongful conviction, and advocacy groups believe her case could pave the way for justice for other victims of sexual violence in South Korea.
