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There is a young man who escaped torture in an African country and settled in Korea as a refugee.
However, as he continued to commit crimes such as assault, the government ordered deportation.
Is it right for refugees who commit crimes to leave our country?
The first judgment of the court has been reached.
Reporter Yang So-yeon.
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A country in central Africa 10 years ago.
A military man who murdered his father for rebellion tortured his mother and son.
A young man in his 20s who eventually became handicapped escaped to Korea and was recognized as a refugee.
Although he settled down by working in a factory, he suffered from torture and was often dependent on alcohol and painkillers.
Then, he repeatedly committed crimes such as drunk driving, assault, and forced molestation, paying fines 10 times, and even jailed.
Even the warning of ‘forcible deportation’ was of no use, so in July of last year, the Ministry of Justice ordered the young refugee to be deported.
The refugee youth filed a lawsuit saying that he would not be able to leave Korea, saying that if he returned to his country, he would be subjected to harsh torture, such as being stabbed in the eye with harsh beatings and needles.
After a year of legal battle, the court upheld the refugee youth.
“It is illegal to at least not take measures to designate a country of repatriation as a country where there is no fear of persecution or torture, and to evict unconditionally,” he said.
[김종철 변호사]
“The court has put a brake on the practice of the Ministry of Justice to repatriate people to their home countries for committing a crime despite the full punishment.”
The fact that this young man had nowhere to go other than his home country also served as a basis for the decision.
The court stipulated that the Convention against Torture must be observed, which states that “an individual cannot be deported to a country in danger of being tortured”.
This is the first time that a court has decided whether the deportation order for refugees is justified.
This is Soyeon Yang from MBC News.
Video coverage: Gomyeong Dok / Video editing: Eun-joo Nam / Illustration: Na-rin Kang
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