A Seoul court on Thursday sentenced former spy agency chief Won Sei-hoon to two years and six months in prison and four years of probation on charges of violating the National Intelligence Service law.

But it dismissed the prosecution’s allegation that the ex-NIS director intervened in the 2012 presidential election. Despite issuing criminal punishment, the Seoul Central District Court acquitted Won of charges that he also breached the Public Official Election Law.

Judges admitted that some of the NIS officials’ illicit practices involved posting political comments on Internet portals and that Won had been informed that his staff was doing so.

But the judges ruled that Won had not instructed his staff to support a particular presidential candidate, which led to the “not guilty” verdict on the Election Law violation charges.

With the four-year probation, Won is likely to avoid prison.

The prosecution had asked for four years in jail with a four-year ban from public office for Won, who was a confidant of former President Lee Myung-bak.

The ruling is expected to trigger a severe backlash from opposition parties and some civic groups, who have continued to claim that Won and some NIS officials tried to support the ruling party candidate by spreading groundless rumors about the opposition candidates.

The New Politics Alliance for Democracy said in a statement that “the verdict was illogical and political.” The main opposition party said that President Park Geun-hye should apologize to the public for the “election intervention” case.

Won allegedly directed his staff to post online messages about Moon of the then-main opposition Democratic United Party and progressive party candidate Lee Jung-hee on Internet forums and discussion sites, with the intent of discrediting them.

Under the Election Law, public servants are barred from intervening in elections.

According to the prosecution, under Won’s direction, NIS officials posted nearly 10,000 online messages attacking Moon and Lee on election issues to steer public opinion in favor of then-Saenuri Party candidate Park Geun-hye.

In addition, via Twitter, the NIS staff allegedly retweeted more than 110,000 political messages.

There are also speculations that the spy agency hired a political campaigner who had previously worked for the Saenuri Party and dozens of part-time workers to team up with the NIS officials in executing the online smear campaign.

In June 2013, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Won by concluding that he had systemically and extensively intervened in domestic politics, not only in violation of the law governing the status of NIS officials but also in violation of the Public Official Election Law.

By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)