An independent prosecutor is demanding a 10-year prison sentence for ousted South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on charges of obstruction of duty and abuse of power. The court could issue a verdict as early as next month.
An independent prosecutor on Friday demanded a 10-year prison sentence for ousted South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol in the first of seven criminal cases related to his failed attempt to impose martial law in 2024 and other charges that arose during his time in office. This was reported by the Associated Press, writes UNN.
Details
As the publication notes, Yoon's first case, which is already nearing its end, includes charges of ignoring attempts by authorities to investigate and detain him. Yoon denies all charges, and his lawyers claim that the arrest warrant was invalid and illegal.
The court is expected to deliver a verdict as early as next month.
Yoon faces other trials on charges ranging from corruption and influence peddling to insurrection, a serious charge punishable by life imprisonment or death. The insurrection trial is also nearing its end.
Yoon's imposition of martial law led to armed military personnel on the streets of Seoul and caused South Korea's most serious political crisis in decades.
Martial law lasted only a few hours, as lawmakers managed to enter the National Assembly and vote to revoke the decree. Later, in December 2024, the opposition-controlled parliament impeached Yoon, and in April, he was officially removed from the presidency by a decision of the Constitutional Court.
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On Friday, independent prosecutor Cho Eun-seok's team asked the Seoul Central District Court to sentence Yoon to 10 years in prison on charges of obstruction of justice, abuse of power, falsification of official documents, and destruction of evidence.
After his impeachment, Yoon hid in his residence for weeks and obstructed law enforcement attempts to execute an arrest warrant. This standoff raised fears of physical clashes between Yoon's presidential security service and those trying to detain him, further deepening the national divide.
Park Ok-soo, a senior investigator on Cho's team, called Yoon's actions "unprecedented obstruction of justice" during Friday's court hearing.
Yoon is also accused of bypassing a legally mandatory full cabinet meeting before declaring martial law, as well as fabricating documents, including the martial law decree, and ordering the deletion of data from the phones of individuals involved in its implementation.
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Yoon denies these allegations and insists that his decree was intended to garner public support in the fight against the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, which initiated the impeachment of several of his high-ranking officials and blocked his political agenda.
Concluding a six-month investigation last week, Cho's team stated that Yoon had been planning the imposition of martial law for over a year with the aim of eliminating political rivals and concentrating power in his hands.
Addition
Other lawsuits against Yoon include allegations that the former leader ordered drones to be launched over North Korea to deliberately escalate tensions and justify his plans to impose martial law, as well as giving false testimony in his prime minister's case. Yoon is also accused of attempting to manipulate the investigation into the death of a marine in 2023 and receiving free opinion polls from an electoral broker in exchange for political favors.
Yoon stated that he was not informed about such drone flights and denied any wrongdoing in the influence peddling case.
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