CHANGWON — Bozorov Akmal, a 37-year-old Uzbek national who has spent 17 years in prison under a finalized life sentence for the 2009 murder of a taxi driver in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, will receive a retrial. The court found that investigating police officers obtained his confession through deception, and also ordered his sentence suspended.
The Changwon District Court's Criminal Division 2, presided over by Senior Judge Kim Sung-hwan, granted Akmal's petition for a retrial on the 15th. He had been serving a life sentence on charges including robbery resulting in death. The decision came 16 years, six months and one day after the Supreme Court finalized the life sentence on April 15, 2010. The court also accepted his request to suspend execution of the sentence, meaning Akmal will be released before the retrial begins.
The case dates to March 24, 2009, when a taxi driver in his 50s was found murdered inside his vehicle parked in an alley in Myeongseo-dong, Uichang-gu, Changwon. In July of that year, police arrested Akmal, then 19, and two others in connection with a taxi robbery, and identified Akmal as the principal offender in the March killing. Akmal, who had come to South Korea as an international student, denied the crime but confessed after two rounds of questioning. His sentence was finalized in April 2010 when the Supreme Court dismissed his appeal.
The court granted the retrial on the grounds that the investigating officers had abused their authority to obstruct the exercise of another's rights. It found that the officers had deceived Akmal to extract a confession, telling him that DNA evidence had been recovered and that the taxi driver was still alive. "This constitutes an unlawful and improper exercise of official duties, and the officers abused their investigative powers to obstruct his right to remain silent," Kim said. The court also found that his right to interpretation had been violated, including through questioning conducted without an interpreter present.
Akmal filed his retrial petition on Jan. 2 last year, arguing that he had given a false confession after being unable to withstand assault and intimidation by police. He acknowledges taking part in the July taxi robbery but says he had nothing to do with the March murder.
Attorney Park Joon-young, who represented Akmal, submitted a forensic re-examination report concluding that the confession does not match the actual cause of death. He also cited the taxi's route, an appraisal report from the National Forensic Service, telecommunications records and testimony concerning the weapon. Akmal's side further submitted evidence that the taxi's route as described in the confession differs by about 6 kilometers from the distance recorded by the vehicle's tachometer.
Prosecutors countered that the allegations of police assault amounted to vague suspicion and that the evidence presented did no more than raise questions about the validity of the original ruling.
"Whether the additional evidence constitutes clear proof of innocence is a matter left to the court that will hear the case," Kim said.
Prosecutors may file an immediate appeal within seven days, so the decision to open a retrial is not yet final.