Sentences commuted on appeal for some foreign sailors who caught illegal snow crabs

Some of the foreign sailors who were indicted on charges of illegally catching and distributing female snow crabs had their sentences reduced on appeal.

Daegu District Court Criminal Division 2-1 (Chief Judge Kim Jeong-do) announced on the 11th that it overturned the original trial that sentenced A (30s) and B (20s) to a fine of 5 million won in the appeal trial for Mr. A (30s) and Mr. B (20s), who were indicted on charges of violating the Fishery Resources Management Act, and sentenced them to a fine of 1.5 million won and 2.5 million won, respectively. For Mr. C (20s) and Mr. D (20s), who were indicted on the same charge, the original trial’s sentences of 5 million won and 2.5 million won, respectively, were maintained.

According to the prosecution, they were brought to trial on charges of capturing and distributing 1,110 female snow crabs with a market value of 2.75 million won at the dock in front of Yangpo Port, Janggi-myeon, Nam-gu, Pohang-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do from February 26 to March 13 last year.

The court explained the reason for the sentencing by saying, “We reviewed the sentencing conditions, including that some of the defendants had only recently entered the Republic of Korea at the time of the crime and that their level of involvement was relatively lighter than that of other defendants, with only 30,000 won in profits distributed.”

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