Legal professionals defending Yoon, who stands charged with attempting to incite a insurrection, known as for his launch from custody.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has appeared in court docket for a preliminary listening to on allegations he was trying to orchestrate a insurrection when he briefly imposed martial regulation in December.
The listening to – held on the Seoul Central District Court docket on Thursday, the place safety was heightened as dozens of his supporters rallied close by – concerned discussions round witnesses and different preparations upfront of his prison trial.
The court docket may even evaluate a request by Yoon’s attorneys to cancel his arrest and launch him from custody.
Police arrested Yoon on January 15 after a weeklong standoff at his residential compound, within the first such motion taken towards a sitting president in South Korea.
Yoon declared martial regulation in a tv handle on December 3, claiming the shock transfer was to “safeguard a liberal South Korea from the threats posed by North Korea’s communist forces and to remove antistate components”.
Yoon’s decree introduced 1000’s of indignant protesters opposing the transfer to the streets, earlier than lawmakers within the Nationwide Meeting voted it down and lifted the martial regulation inside about six hours of it being declared.
Authorities indicted Yoon on January 26 on prices of staging a insurrection, alleging that his decree was an illegal try and shut down the Nationwide Meeting and arrest politicians and election authorities.
Whereas presidents in South Korea take pleasure in immunity from most prison prosecutions, an exception is made for prices of insurrection or treason. If convicted, Yoon faces a possible punishment of demise or life in jail.
Yoon’s defence minister, Kim Yong-hyun, in addition to the nationwide police chief Cho Ji-ho and several other army commanders have additionally been arrested and indicted on insurrection, abuse of energy and different prices associated to the decree.
Whereas short-lived, Yoon’s martial regulation declaration has plunged the nation into political turmoil.
On December 14, the Nationwide Meeting overwhelmingly voted to droop Yoon’s presidential powers and impeach him.
In a parallel impeachment trial to Yoon’s prison case, South Korea’s Constitutional Court docket is now nearing a choice on whether or not to formally take away him from workplace or dismiss the movement and reinstate him.
Al Jazeera correspondent in Seoul, Rob McBride, stated that ought to the court docket uphold Yoon’s impeachment, South Korea will maintain elections inside 60 days.
“This drama continues, and naturally, the nation stays in a sort of diplomatic limbo,” McBride stated exterior the Seoul court docket the place Yoon’s trial is going down.
“The nation’s appearing president, Choi Sang-mok, has not even spoken on the cellphone with [United States President] Donald Trump, the chief of South Korea’s most vital ally,” he added.
Yoon’s vocal supporters, a whole lot of whom rioted on the Seoul Western District Court docket after it authorised his arrest final month, have protested towards the authorized motion being taken towards him.
Yoon has additionally maintained a defiant stance, persevering with to specific contempt for his liberal rivals and endorsing baseless conspiracy theories about election fraud.
