CJ Chief Drops Appeal Ahead of Special Amnesty
Lee Jay-hyun
Lee Jay-hyun, the chairman of food and entertainment conglomerate CJ Group, has abandoned an appeal against a sentence for tax evasion and embezzlement.
A CJ spokesman said on Tuesday Lee's lawyers informed the Supreme Court that they are dropping the appeal and instead asked prosecutors for a stay of execution as Lee is in bad health.
Lee is serving a two-year-and-six-month jail term and has yet to pay a fine of W25.2 billion (US$1=W1,140). He now seems to hope that he will come under a planned amnesty by President Park Geun-hye on Liberation Day on Aug. 15.
Amnesties do not apply to convicts whose sentences are under appeal.
Lee has had trouble living in prison, being constantly rushed off to hospital with rejection symptoms and side effects from immunosuppressants since a kidney transplant in August 2013.
He also suffers from Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a neurological condition characterized by progressive degeneration of the muscles in the feet, lower legs and hands.
"Lee is extremely mentally unstable because of his long fight against the disease, the death of his father in August last year and his mother's stroke", the spokesman said.
He is also taking antidepressants, the spokesman added.
Source from :Hancinema