I expect a good lawyer can be found. The WMF might be able to help with that, they have lots of useful contacts. If even the police didn't think there is much of a case, they must stand a very good chance of winning the case. While it will surely be a very stressful and unpleasant experience for the Wikipedians concerned, a victory in a case like this could set a very useful legal precedent (both in South Korea and internationally).
On 22 December 2010 05:18, Puzzlet Chung <[email protected]> wrote: > I'm afraid not. > > (And I forgot to introduce myself - I'm [[ko:User:PuzzletChung]], a > bureaucrat from kowiki.) > > 2010/12/22 Samuel Klein <[email protected]>: >> Puzzlet - How unfortunate. Is there a lawyer available to advise the >> Wikipedians? - SJ >> >> On Tue, Dec 21, 2010 at 11:56 PM, Puzzlet Chung <[email protected]> wrote: >>> At most four Korean Wikipedians are charged with defamation of Song >>> Young-gil, the Mayor of Incheon Metropolitan City. >>> >>> According to the contributors, the prosecution is upon the Song's own >>> request, and is going to be over publicizing a fabricated sex scandal >>> in the article about him and (semi-)protecting it. The text in >>> question is merely a sum-up of various reports about the speculations >>> eventually found to be a hoax. Non-logged-in user(s) from various IP >>> addresses have tried to remove the whole controversy section, >>> including not only the scandal but other arguments about him, >>> replacing it with personal contrary comments and legal threats. The >>> edits are consequently reverted by some users and rollbacked by one >>> administrator. The admin, [[ko:User:Kys951]], is also accused of >>> being an abettor just because he is an admin. >>> >>> In the South Korean legal system, criminal defamation is partially a >>> "crime upon complaint," (친고죄/親告罪) which becomes irrelevant to be a >>> crime when the complainant chose to withdraw the case. (Note that I'm >>> not a specialist of law, especially in English terminology.) The >>> police of Southeastern Incheon thought the case itself is too >>> insignificant to be a criminal case and tried to persuade him to >>> withdraw it, only to be declined. >>> >>> Song has reportedly demanded the admin to remove the paragraph in >>> exchange for fixing the charge, which is definitely not the way how >>> Wikipedia works. >>> >>> Another concern about this incident is that this could happen to every >>> bit of contribution to the project. South Korean government had been >>> censoring any scribble on the web they think beneficial to North >>> Korea,[2] and for later on, anything they think "fraudulent" whenever >>> the state is in "threat," according to an exclusive report.[3] >>> >>> [1] >>> https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ko/w/index.php?title=%EC%86%A1%EC%98%81%EA%B8%B8&diff=5832689 >>> [2] >>> http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/shame_on_democratic_south_korea_for_censoring_face.php >>> [3] http://www.hani.co.kr/arti/economy/it/455022.html >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> foundation-l mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> Samuel Klein identi.ca:sj w:user:sj +1 617 529 >> 4266 >> >> _______________________________________________ >> foundation-l mailing list >> [email protected] >> Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l >> > > _______________________________________________ > foundation-l mailing list > [email protected] > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l > _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
