RUSSIA: TRIAL RESUMES THIS WEEK FOR KOREAN MISSIONARY PARK TAE-YEON
The trial of Korean Missionary Park Tae-Yeon resumes this week in Khabarovsk. According to persecution watchdog Voice of the Martyrs Korea, a verdict was originally expected in the case by August 10, but the judge’s rescheduling of the trial dates could mean no verdict until September 24.
Missionary Park, who was detained in January one week before she was set to return to Korea for her retirement, is facing a possible seventeen years in prison on three immigration-related charges.
According to Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representative Dr. Hyun Sook Foley, a verdict was originally expected by August 10, but the judge in the case rescheduled the trial dates due to the court’s heavy case load.
Ms. Park Tae-Yeon has been living with a sincere love for the country of Russia and its people since she arrived there in 1993.
“After this week, Missionary Park is scheduled to return to court at the end of August and possibly as many as seven more times in September,” says Representative Foley. She says the large number of court appearances is attributed by unnamed sources to the need for translation between Russian and Korean during the proceedings and with regard to the evidence and written testimonies.
The rescheduling could mean no verdict until September 24, though Representative Foley says Voice of the Martyrs Korea has learned that the trial may conclude before that date.
According to Representative Foley, the trial opened with positive character references on behalf of Missionary Park.
Voice of the Martyrs Korea has been advocating for Missionary Park since her arrest in Khabarovsk, Russia on January 15, one week before she was scheduled to return home to Korea to retire at age 70. Authorities fined the missionary for overstaying her visa, despite the overstay being due to her detainment by Russian authorities. She is currently being held at an immigration detention center for foreigners in Khabarovsk.
An online petition posted by Voice of the Martyrs Korea from February to April garnered more than 4,000 signatures from Korea, along with more than 1,000 signatures from Russia, Ukraine, the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Brazil, Africa, Finland, Zimbabwe, Poland, Hungary, Indonesia, Romania, Nigeria, Scotland, Hong Kong, and the Philippines.
In April, Voice of the Martyrs Korea Representatives Dr. Hyun Sook Foley and CEO Pastor Eric Foley delivered the petition to the Russian Embassy in Seoul, calling for the missionary’s immediate release. Copies of the petition were also sent to the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.