South Korea’s impeached president, Yoon Suk Yeol, was formally arrested early Sunday, days after being apprehended at his presidential compound in Seoul, as he faces doable imprisonment over his ill-fated declaration of martial regulation final month.
Yoon’s arrest may mark the start of an prolonged interval in custody for him, lasting months or extra.
The Seoul Western District Court granted regulation enforcement’s request for an arrest warrant for Yoon following an hourslong deliberation, saying he was a menace to destroy proof. Yoon and his attorneys on Saturday appeared earlier than the court docket’s decide throughout a listening to and argued for his launch.
Yoon, who has been in detention since he was apprehended on Wednesday in an enormous regulation enforcement operation at his residential compound, faces potential revolt prices linked to his declaration of martial regulation on Dec. 3, which set off the nation’s most serious political crisis since its democratization in the late 1980s.
The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials, which is main a joint investigation with police and the navy, can now lengthen his detention to twenty days, throughout which they may switch the case to public prosecutors for indictment.
Yoon’s attorneys may additionally file a petition to problem the court docket’s arrest warrant.
Yoon’s look on the Seoul Western District Court triggered chaotic scenes in close by streets, the place 1000’s of his fervent supporters rallied for hours calling for his launch. They clashed with police, who detained round 40 protesters, together with about 20 who climbed over a fence in an try and method the court docket. At least two autos carrying anti-corruption investigators had been broken as they left the court docket after arguing for Yoon’s arrest.
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Yoon’s attorneys stated he spoke for about 40 minutes to the decide in the course of the almost five-hour closed-door listening to. His authorized workforce and anti-corruption companies offered opposing arguments about whether or not he ought to be held in custody. The attorneys didn’t share his particular feedback.
The decide is predicted to decide by late Saturday or early Sunday. Yoon’s motorcade was seen leaving the court docket Saturday night for the detention heart, the place Yoon will await the choice.
Yoon was transported to the court docket from a detention heart in Uiwang, close to Seoul, in a blue Justice Ministry van escorted by police and the presidential safety service.
The motorcade entered the court docket’s basement parking area as 1000’s of Yoon’s supporters gathered in close by streets regardless of a heavy police presence. Some protesters broke by the police strains and tapped on the home windows of his van approaching the court docket. Yoon didn’t communicate to reporters.
After its investigators had been attacked by protesters, the anti-corruption company requested media corporations to obscure the faces of its members attending the listening to.
It hadn’t been clear till Saturday morning whether or not Yoon would select to attend the listening to.
Defense attorneys met Yoon on the detention heart and he accepted his authorized workforce’s recommendation to seem personally earlier than the decide, stated Yoon Kab-keun, one of many president’s attorneys. The lawyer stated the president was to argue that his decree was a respectable train of his powers and that accusations of revolt wouldn’t maintain up earlier than a felony court docket or the Constitutional Court, which is reviewing whether or not to formally take away him from workplace or reinstate him.
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Nine individuals, together with Yoon’s protection minister, police chief, and a number of other high navy commanders, have already been arrested and indicted for his or her roles within the enforcement of martial regulation.
The disaster started when Yoon, in an attempt to break through legislative gridlock, imposed military rule and despatched troops to the National Assembly and election workplaces. The standoff lasted solely hours after lawmakers who managed to get by a blockade voted to raise the measure. The opposition-dominated meeting voted to question him on Dec. 14.
If Yoon is formally arrested, it may mark the start of an prolonged interval in custody for him, lasting months or extra.
If prosecutors indict Yoon on revolt and abuse of energy prices, that are the allegations now being examined by investigators, they might maintain him in custody for as much as six months earlier than trial.
Under South Korean regulation, orchestrating a revolt is punishable by life imprisonment or the dying penalty.
Yoon’s attorneys have argued that there isn’t a have to detain him in the course of the investigation, saying he does not pose a menace to flee or destroy proof.
