Seoul, Jan 17 (IANS) Legal representatives for former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday accused a Seoul court of being politically motivated in its sentencing of their client the previous day.
On Friday, the Seoul Central District Court handed down a five-year prison term on Yoon on charges that included the obstruction of investigators’ attempt to detain him last year. It was the first ruling on charges stemming from Yoon’s short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024.
In particular, Yoon was charged with ordering the Presidential Security Service to block investigators from executing a warrant to detain him at the presidential residence in January 2025, reports Yonhap news agency.
Yoon’s legal team released a statement Saturday saying the court’s ruling was “purely based on political reasoning,” while also lamenting the “disappearance of legal principles and collapse of constitutionalism.”
“A judge must recognise the impact his ruling can have on society, but at the same time, that recognition alone must not be the reason to alter standards for his decision,” the lawyers said. “A trial must be concluded based on evidence and law, not on political and social climate. The judiciary can maintain its independence and credibility, and its rulings can be accepted only when this principle is honoured.”
Yoon’s lawyers repeated many of the same claims that they had made during the trial, arguing, for instance, that investigators had unlawfully entered a place that had not been specified in the detention warrant for Yoon.
The legal team said the Seoul Central District Court did not meet the criteria for impartiality by rejecting these claims.
The lawyers had said on Friday they would immediately appeal the court’s decision, which they described as “unacceptable.”
Friday’s ruling could have implications for next month’s verdict on charges that Yoon led an insurrection through his short-lived decree.
Special prosecutors demanded the death penalty for Yoon over the insurrection charge earlier this week. The court is set to rule on the case on February 19.
The former president is facing a total of eight trials in connection with the martial law attempt, his wife’s alleged corruption and the 2023 death of a Marine.
–IANS
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