Attorneys defending Yoon, who stands charged with making an attempt to incite a revolt, referred to 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 revolt when he briefly imposed martial legislation in December.
The listening to – held on the Seoul Central District Courtroom 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 legal trial.
The court docket will even assessment 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 in opposition to a sitting president in South Korea.
Yoon declared martial law in a tv deal with 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 get rid of antistate components”.
Yoon’s decree introduced hundreds of angry protesters opposing the transfer to the streets, earlier than lawmakers within the Nationwide Meeting voted it down and lifted the martial legislation inside about six hours of it being declared.
Authorities indicted Yoon on January 26 on prices of staging a revolt, alleging that his decree was an illegal try to shut down the Nationwide Meeting and arrest politicians and election authorities.
Whereas presidents in South Korea get pleasure from immunity from most legal prosecutions, an exception is made for prices of revolt or treason. If convicted, Yoon faces a possible punishment of dying or life in jail.
Yoon’s defence minister, Kim Yong-hyun, in addition to the nationwide police chief Cho Ji-ho and a number of other army commanders have additionally been arrested and indicted on revolt, abuse of energy and different prices associated to the decree.
Whereas short-lived, Yoon’s martial legislation 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 legal case, South Korea’s Constitutional Courtroom 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, mentioned 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 mentioned outdoors the Seoul court docket the place Yoon’s trial is going down.
“The nation’s performing president, Choi Sang-mok, has not even spoken on the cellphone with [United States President] Donald Trump, the chief of South Korea’s most necessary ally,” he added.
Yoon’s vocal supporters, a whole bunch of whom rioted on the Seoul Western District Courtroom after it authorised his arrest final month, have protested in opposition to the authorized motion being taken in opposition to him.
Yoon has additionally maintained a defiant stance, persevering with to precise contempt for his liberal rivals and endorsing baseless conspiracy theories about election fraud.
