By 
Protesters gathered in Mumbai to condemn the conviction of two Indian nationals for their involvement in last years oil spill. The conviction was clearly unjust and you have to really feel bad for the families affected by this:
The families of Mr. Chawla and Mr. Chetan are also fighting a tough battle against a powerful nation and corporation. The judgment comes as a crushing blow to them as they were all set to celebrate the earlier acquittal.
“I am the saddest and most distressed father of Syam Chetan,” said his father Commodore (retd.) D.R. Syam, Indian Navy. He said his family had not seen their son for the past 14 months. “I was in touch with my son ever since he was first detained. He used to tell me justice will prevail. When he was acquitted, he even told us the flight details for his return journey. However, the new judgment is highly biased; it is a miscarriage of justice. Since December 10, I have not been able to speak to my son,” he said.
Gurpreet, Mr. Chawla’s wife, is a picture of despair. With two children back home in Dehradun, this fight for justice is a protracted ordeal for her. “In between, I had gone to meet him in Korea. We were very hopeful. Shipping experts all over the world have condemned this decision. My husband cannot even get bail. The court was biased against us. We were not given enough time to present our case. The witnesses were only from the Korean side. One Korean witness told us that he would speak in our favour. The next we heard was he had lost his job. We ignored all these limitations as we were sure of our innocence,” she said.
Commodore (retd.) D.R. Syam said though the seamen were given the best legal aid, all the proceedings were in Korean and one did not know what was being said. He said the families had received support from the Indian government. “At the diplomatic level, the External Affairs Ministry has summoned the South Korean ambassador thrice. This is the utmost it can do. However, it has been to no avail. We would therefore request the government to step up their act.” [The Hindu National]
Hopefully these guys get released on appeal which I think they will, but clearly this case is not doing anything good for South Korea’s reputation in India.
8:23 am on December 29th, 2008 1
"Hopefully these guys get released on appeal which I think they will…"
The success rate of winning an appeal in Korean courts is less than 2%. Basically, the way it works in Korea: all rulings are final. Period.
9:55 am on December 29th, 2008 2
Look at the bright side of it…they'll be able to teach once released.
12:53 pm on December 29th, 2008 3
This only goes to prove the incredulous stupidity of a Confucian legal system in the modern world. It does not help much that the Judge in charge of this case has been told for years that every wise decision he has made with the lack of a Jury comes from his Han genetic superiority. It is no wonder that Korea is faltering in the export business when decisions such as this are the norm, versus the anomaly. So this ruling is obvious proof that as long as top level Korean politicians and legal professionals fail to enter the new century, they will be weighed, measured, and found lacking in the eyes of the International community. I wish them the best of luck on attempting to obtain foreign investment with their current foreigner friendly environment here on the Peninsula!
1:44 am on December 30th, 2008 4
Guitard they will not win they appeal but as has often happened before with the Korean legal system the person gets released when the sentence is suspended.
Thus the conviction stands which saves face for the authorities and helps Samsung and the Indian get to go home. Everyone gets what they want except for the fact these two Indians got stuck in jail for a few months for fraudulent reasons.
4:48 am on December 30th, 2008 5
In a Korean context, I understand that. But this whole case is an international context, despite the initial incident being in Korean waters…
11:07 am on December 30th, 2008 6
[...] : http://rokdrop.com/2008/12/29/picture-of-the-day-indians-protest-unjust-south-korean-court-convictio… [...]
11:49 am on December 30th, 2008 7
The decision basically says that if your parked car is hit by a reckless driver, you are partially responsible because the accident would not have happened if you had parked elsewhere.
This type of decision will be seen as a liability risk of doing maritime commerce with Korea. Just as piracy is a liability cost off the Somali coast, some will factor this decision into the cost of doing business with Korea. Expect to see maritime insurance rates going up for ships doing business with Korea.
It will also be the Korean consumers, in the end, literally paying for this decision.
10:56 pm on January 3rd, 2009 8
I have the scoop on this from the Navy.
Like many things, when the whole story is known, it makes a lot more sense (despite agreement or disagreement with the situation).
The foreign ship was parked at a temporary anchorage. This means they must maintain the capability of moving upon request. Instead, they started engine repairs and were unable to move.
An hour before the collision, Taehan radioed that the floating crane had broken loose and was headed their way. Either they were unable to restart the engines or they thought, "Gosh, the ocean is a big place. What's the chance?"
The result was an avoidable and expensive collision.
Now, the fight isn't really over the punishment of the crew, it is over establishment of responsibility. This is important to the insurance companies for both parties since even a single percentage point of responsibility translates to millions of dollars in damages.
"The decision basically says that if your parked car is hit by a reckless driver, you are partially responsible because the accident would not have happened if you had parked elsewhere."
More closely, this decision basically says that if you park your car in the middle of the street and rotate the tires, you have some responsibility if a reckless driver hits you.