South Korean prosecutors on Sunday indicted embattled President Yoon Seok-yul for leading the coup along with his short-lived imposition of martial law on Sunday, Yoon’s lawyers and the main opposition party said. .
Yun’s lawyers criticized the indictment as the “worst choice” by the prosecution service, while the main opposition party welcomed the decision.
The charges are unprecedented for a South Korean president, and if convicted, Yoon could face years in prison on charges of shock martial law, which bans political and parliamentary activity and An attempt was made to control the media.
His move set off a wave of political upheaval in Asia’s fourth-largest economy and a key US ally, with the prime minister also impeached and suspended from power and several top military officials accused of his role in the alleged coup. I was charged.
“[The] The president’s declaration of emergency martial law was a desperate plea to the public over a national crisis that has spiraled out of control, Yun’s lawyers said in a statement.
The prosecutor’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. South Korean media have also reported this indictment.
Anti-corruption investigators last week recommended charging the jailed Yoon, who was impeached by parliament and suspended from his duties on December 14.
A former top prosecutor himself, Yun has been held in solitary confinement since becoming the first sitting president to be arrested on January 15 after standing defiant, armed, between his security detail and arresting officials.
Media reports said a court over the weekend twice denied prosecutors’ requests to extend their detention while they investigated further, but with the charges, they have again requested that they be kept in custody. To be kept.
Treason is one of the few criminal charges from which a South Korean president is not immune. It is punishable by life imprisonment or death, although South Korea has not executed anyone in decades.
“Prosecutors have decided to indict Yoon Seok-yul, who is facing charges of being the mastermind of the coup,” Democratic Party spokesman Han Min-soo told a press conference. “The Punishment of the Leader of the Rebellion Now Begins at Last.”
Yun and his lawyers argued at a Constitutional Court hearing in his impeachment trial last week that he never intended to impose martial law outright but meant to avoid a political stalemate. The steps were meant as a warning to break.
In parallel with the criminal process, the high court will determine whether to remove Yun from office or restore his presidential powers. He has 180 days to decide on it.
South Korea’s opposition-led parliament impeached Yoon on December 14, making him the country’s second conservative president to be impeached. Yun retracted his martial law declaration within about six hours after lawmakers confronted the troops in parliament, voting for the decree.
During the dramatic encounter, soldiers with rifles, body armor and night vision equipment were seen entering the parliament building through broken windows.
If Yun is removed from office, a presidential election will be held within 60 days.
