The defendant shall be innocent.

1. The summary of the facts charged was at around 23:00 on November 18, 2016, at the meeting of the representative of the occupants of Suwon-si, Suwon-si, the defendant, the president of the above apartment apartment, and the fact was not required by the complainant D, the above apartment elevator management company, E, the above apartment elevator management method, on the condition that the method of managing the above apartment elevator was changed from the FM method to the internship method, and even though he did not have any knowledge of such fact from the F, an employee of the above company, the defendant, despite having no knowledge of the fact, damaged the reputation of D, the complainant, who publicly disclosed false facts to the effect that "the complainant demanded from the elevator E to change the elevator management method from the FM method to the 18 million won method."

2. Determination

A. The Defendant and his defense counsel asserted that they had the same words as the facts charged from FF of E Company (hereinafter “instant Company”) that is an elevator controlled entity, and that they had the Defendant made the above statements in the process of responding to questions at the meeting of occupants representative discussed on the agenda for dismissal of D, and during the process of responding to the questions at the meeting of occupants representative discussed on the agenda for dismissal of D. Accordingly, the Defendant had the awareness that the details of the statement were false.

It is difficult to see that it is for the public interest, and it is not illegal.

B. In order to establish a crime of defamation by publicly alleging false facts under Article 307(2) of the Criminal Act, the person who alleged the facts must be aware of such fact as false, and furthermore, if an act of defameing a person by openly alleging a fact is true and solely for the public interest, it cannot be punished pursuant to Article 310 of the Criminal Act. Here, the term “justifiable fact” refers to a fact that is consistent with objective facts in light of the overall purport of the content.