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 The court convicted the ship's chief engineer of homicide for not
aiding two injured fellow crew members, making him the only one of
four facing homicide charges to be found guilty on that count, and
sentenced him to 30 years in prison.
The remaining 13 surviving crew members of the ferry Sewol were
found guilty of various charges, including negligence, and handed
down prison terms ranging from five to 20 years.
Cries and shouts of anger and disbelief erupted in the packed
courtroom in the southern city of Gwangju as the verdict and
sentences were read.
"Judge, this is not right," a woman screamed in anguish as some of
the other family members broke down in tears.
"Is this how little the lives of our children were worth?" another
said. "The death sentence is not enough for the crew."
Video footage of the crew abandoning the vessel after instructing
the passengers, mostly teenagers, to remain in their cabins had
caused outrage and calls for harsh punishment.
The victims' families issued a statement after the verdict, saying
they were devastated by the decision and justice had failed.
"Our hope was miserably destroyed" Park Jong-dae, father of one of
the children who died, said in the statement read outside the
courthouse, urging the prosecutors to appeal and seek punishment
that it said fitted the crew's crime.
A prosecutor involved in the case said his team would appeal against
the decision on all 15 crew members, calling the rulings
"disappointing," particularly the not guilty verdict against three
senior officers including the captain on homicide charges.
VESSEL OVERLOADED
The overloaded Sewol capsized while making a turn on a routine
voyage to the holiday island of Jeju. The vessel was later found to
be defective, with additions made to increase passenger capacity
making it top-heavy and unstable.
The ferry operator also loaded the ship with excess cargo and not
enough water in the ballast tank to maintain balance, causing it to
list sharply when it made the ill-fated turn on April 16 and sink
rapidly.
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Only 172 of the ferry's 476 passengers and crew were rescued. Of the
304 confirmed dead or still listed as missing, 250 were school
children. The government announced earlier on Tuesday it was halting
the search for the nine still missing as conditions at the wreck
have become too dangerous.
The public outcry provoked by the tragedy had led to concerns over
whether the crew would be able to get a fair trial, especially after
the prosecutors charged four of them with homicide.
They had sought the death penalty for the captain of Sewol, Lee
Joon-seok, who is in his late 60s and instead faces the rest of his
life in prison.
The crew on trial have said they thought it was the coastguard's job
to evacuate passengers and that they were not adequately trained for
that role, but most admitted they did not do enough.
Lee, the captain, has apologized to the families of the victims and
said he never intended to harm anyone. He pleaded to be spared of
the homicide charge, saying he did not want his children to live
with a killer as their father.
Executives of the ferry operator and shipping regulators are on
trial on various charges of negligence.
The man considered the head of the business empire that owned the
ferry company was found dead in June, amid the country's largest
manhunt to capture him to try to hold him accountable for
mismanagement that many feel led to the ferry disaster.
(Writing by Jack Kim; Editing by Alex Richardson and Tony Munroe)
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