The defendant shall be innocent.

1. Summary of the facts charged

A. On June 23, 2011, the Defendant, using a computer, posted a letter on the Internet site “B” as the title “B” on the Internet site, and entered the main text of the text “B” into “B”.

B. On January 6, 2012, the Defendant posted a letter written by using a computer in the above Arade debate room using the computer and entered “E” in the main text of the said text as “former A1-Class C (D Seoul)”.

C. On January 20, 2012, the Defendant posted a letter written by using a computer at the 08:33 French site, stating “F” as the title “F” at the above Arade debate room, and stated in the main text of the text of the document “I Da (Dves).”

In order to defame the victims C over three occasions as above, the Defendant revealed the fact of his criminal records and personal information openly through an information and communications network, thereby impairing the honor of the victims.

2. Determination

A. “Purpose of slandering a person” under Article 70(1) of the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, Etc. is required to express intent or purpose, and is in conflict with one another in the direction of subjective intent of an actor as well as for the public interest. Therefore, in a case where a publicly alleged fact concerns the public interest, it is reasonable to deem that the objective of slandering a person is denied, barring any special circumstance. Here, “where a publicly alleged fact concerns the public interest” refers to the public interest when objectively viewed the publicly alleged fact, and thus, an actor must state the fact objectively for the public interest. Of note, matters pertaining to the public interest is widely related to the public interest of the State, society, and other general public, as well as to a specific social group or the whole members thereof.