The judgment of the court below is reversed.

The case is remanded to the Suwon District Court's Division of the common housing site cost agreement.

The defendant's appeal shall be examined ex officio prior to examining the grounds for appeal.

A national participatory trial under the Act on Citizen Participation in Criminal Trials (hereinafter “Act”) is an institution introduced to enhance democratic legitimacy and trust in judicial proceedings (Article 1 of the Act). Since a person has the right to a citizen participatory trial as prescribed by law (Article 3 of the Act), a case subject to a citizen participatory trial in accordance with the Act and its rules is the principle that the citizen participatory trial is conducted according to the citizen participatory trial procedure.

However, if the defendant does not want a citizen participatory trial or makes a decision to exclude due to any of the grounds provided for in the subparagraphs of Article 9(1) of the Act, the court does not hold a citizen participatory trial exceptionally (Article 5(1) and (2) of the Act). As such, the issue of whether to hold a citizen participatory trial is determined by the defendant’s will. Thus, if a public action is instituted against a case subject to citizen participatory trial, the court must confirm to the defendant in writing, etc. (Article 8(1) of the Act). For this purpose, if the defendant or his/her defense counsel seeks a participatory trial, along with a copy of the indictment, the submission of a document under Article 8(2) of the Act, restriction on the reversal of the citizen participatory trial under Article 8(4) of the Act, and any other instruction on the citizen participatory trial (Article 3(1) of the Rules on part of the citizen participatory trial). Notwithstanding these provisions, if the defendant tried to have a participatory trial without going through the citizen participatory trial procedure, it should be declared 20.