Prosecutors want to imprison ex-president

TT

Published 04.13  

 

South Korea's ousted president Yoon Suk-Yeol, photographed in a court in Seoul this summer. Photo: Kim Hong-Ji/AP/TT

South Korean prosecutors are seeking a ten-year prison sentence for the country's ex-president Yoon Suk-Yeol, reports the Yonhap news agency.

The current trial involves charges of, among other things, obstruction of justice after he prevented his own arrest earlier this year. The trial is in its final day and the court has announced that the verdict will be handed down in mid-January.

The ex-president is indicted in three other trials, all linked to his declaration of martial law in December 2024. The most serious one involves charges of rebellion. That trial is expected to be completed in January, and a verdict is expected around February, Yonhap writes.

Yoon Suk-Yeol imposed martial law last December, which he claimed would protect the country from “communist forces.” He was removed from office in early April when South Korea’s Constitutional Court ruled in an impeachment trial that the declaration did not meet the legal requirements for a national emergency.

Yoon has been charged with multiple crimes in connection with the incident and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison or even the death penalty. However, the country has not executed anyone since before the turn of the millennium.