SEOUL, Jan 16 (Reuters) – Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is due to face the first court ruling on Friday stemming from criminal charges over his failed martial law attempt, a case that could result in a long prison sentence if he is found guilty.
Yoon could receive a sentence of up to 10 years in jail if he is convicted on charges that include obstructing officials from executing an arrest warrant against him in January when he barricaded himself inside his residential compound and ordered the security service to block investigators.
He was finally arrested in a second attempt involving more than 3,000 police officers. His arrest was the first ever for a sitting president in South Korea.
Yoon, who is currently being held in the Seoul Detention Center, also faces allegations of falsifying official documents when he declared martial law in December 2024, claiming he planned to restore democratic order to the country that was under siege from the majority opposition and “anti-state” forces.
Separately, Yoon faces a number of other trials, including on a charge of masterminding insurrection. Prosecutors have asked the court to give him the death sentence on this charge, with a ruling scheduled for February.
Parliament, joined by some members of Yoon’s conservative party, voted within hours to overturn his surprise martial law decree and later impeached him, suspending his powers.
He was removed from office in April last year by the Constitutional Court that ruled he violated the duties of his office.
While his bid to impose martial law lasted only about six hours, it sent shockwaves through South Korea, which is Asia’s fourth-largest economy, a key U.S. security ally and long considered one of the world’s most-resilient democracies.
(Reporting by Jack Kim, Heejin KimEditing by Ed Davies)
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