Footballer Son Junho (Shandong Taishan), who remains detained in China, has been named in the 23-man squad for the June A matches (Peru 16-20, El Salvador), but his participation is uncertain.
Son has been under criminal detention and investigation by public security authorities in China’s Liaoning province since 12 December on suspicion of bribing a non-state worker (non-civil servant). As of the 5th, he has been detained for 25 days.먹튀검증
The crime of bribing a non-state actor is a charge that applies to civilians who illegally accept property from others in connection with their duties.
Criminal detention means “temporary restraint” under the decision and control of public security authorities in China.
According to the Chinese Criminal Procedure Law and related rules, if the public security authorities believe that a suspect in criminal detention is guilty of a “serious crime,” they can investigate the suspect in detention on their own authority for up to 37 days.
In South Korea, when police arrest a person, they have 48 hours to apply to the court for an arrest warrant through the prosecutor’s office, but in China, police can investigate a person’s detention without a formal arrest warrant for more than a month.
This means that the Liaoning provincial public security authorities could theoretically investigate Son on their own in criminal custody until the 17th.
Prior to the 17th, the Liaoning provincial public security authorities are expected to apply to the People’s Procuratorate (the Procuratorate) for formal ratification of the detention (arrest), which the Procuratorate will then decide within seven days.
In China, if the procuratorate ratifies the arrest, it is common practice to be charged and tried while in custody.
Once you are formally detained, it can take a considerable amount of time from that point to be charged and go to your first trial.
In the case of Chris, a former member of the K-pop group EXO who was detained and charged with sex offences in China, his first trial took place in June last year, about 10 months after he was formally detained in August 2021.
Therefore, whether the prosecution ratifies the detention, which will be decided this month, is likely to be the first watershed in Son’s case.
“The embassy is conducting necessary communications with the Chinese side, including requesting a prompt and impartial investigation of Son, and continues to provide necessary consular assistance to Son,” a senior South Korean embassy official in Beijing said on 5 May.
“On 17 and 25 May, the consular officer in charge visited Son on two occasions,” the official said, adding that “there were no unwarranted human rights violations.”
Under China’s Criminal Procedure Law, family members are not allowed to visit during periods of criminal detention, and only lawyers licensed to practice law in China are allowed to conduct defence activities, such as meeting with detainees, so neither the KFA officials nor the association’s lawyer who recently travelled to China were able to meet with Son face-to-face.