SEOUL, South Korea – The leader of a mysterious religious sect that was in the middle of a coronavirus outbreak in South Korea last year was sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday on charges of embezzling church money.
But Lee Man-hee, 89, the founder of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, was acquitted on a charge of conspiracy to obstruct the health authorities’ efforts to fight the virus.
Mr. Lee’s imprisonment has been suspended for four years, meaning he will remain free unless he commits a crime within that time.
The rapid spread of the virus among church worshipers in Daegu, a city in the southeast, in February and early March last year, briefly made South Korea home to the world’s largest coronavirus outbreak outside China. A total of 5,213 of the country’s more than 68,000 cases were found among church members and their contacts, according to government data.
Prosecutors said Mr. Lee was arrested in August on charges that he and other church officials had obstructed the government’s efforts to fight the epidemic by not fully disclosing the number of worshipers and their gathering places. Mr Lee is also accused of embezzling $ 5.6 billion, or $ 5.1 million, from church funds to build a luxury ‘peace palace’ north of Seoul, the capital, and of holding unauthorized religious events at public facilities. held. Prosecutors have asked for five years in prison.
Mr. Lee’s church – which he says has 245,000 followers in South Korea and abroad – has come under fire at home, and he apologized to South Koreans in March over the number of cases linked to it. However, the church has denied allegations that his actions contributed to the spread of the virus, as well as the accusations of parents that Mr. Lee is a ‘religious artist’, whose church attracts and brainwashes their children with its unorthodox teachings.
At the height of the church’s outbreak, South Korea reported as many as 900 new cases a day. But the outbreak was overshadowed by a new wave of infections that began to spread mainly in November through the populous metropolitan Seoul. The country, with about 50 million inhabitants, reported a record 1,212 new cases on Christmas Day.
Mr. Lee, who was released on bail in November, denied all charges against him during the trial. In an earlier statement, his church said Lee never intended to hamper the government’s efforts to control the epidemic, and urged church members to work with health authorities.
On Wednesday, a judge in the district court in Suwon, south of Seoul, ruled that the failure to provide a full list of worshipers and church facilities was not an obstacle to the government’s disease control efforts.
Mr. Lee’s church welcomed the acquittal, but said it would appeal its conviction against embezzlement and other charges.