Yoon Suk-yeol, Kim Yong-hyun and 5 others on trial for his or her roles within the martial regulation disaster of Dec. 3, 2024, seem in Room 417 of the Seoul Central District Court docket for the ultimate listening to of their trial on Jan. 13, 2026. (courtesy of the Seoul Central District Court docket)
Closing arguments for all main legal trials associated to Korea’s 2024 martial regulation disaster have concluded, with prosecutors finally requesting the dying penalty for former President Yoon Suk-yeol on costs of orchestrating and main an riot. Verdicts shall be reached for key defendants on trial for his or her roles within the fiasco beginning this week, with pronouncements of judgments persevering with into February.
Greater than a yr after that fateful December night time, the time has now come for the courts to ship their first spherical of judgments on whether or not Yoon’s declaration of martial regulation — an act already deemed unconstitutional and illegal by the Constitutional Court docket throughout his impeachment trial — needs to be punished as legal riot.
On Friday, a panel of judges on the Seoul Central District Court docket will ship its verdict within the case towards Yoon on costs together with obstructing the execution of an arrest warrant by the Corruption Investigation Workplace for Excessive-ranking Officers. The particular counsel crew prosecuting the case has sought a 10-year jail sentence for the previous president.
The primary indication of whether or not the courts will regard the martial regulation disaster as having constituted an riot, and to what extent it needs to be punished in that case, will come from a legal justice panel on the Seoul Central District Court docket when it pronounces its ruling within the trial of Han Duck-soo, the previous prime minister, on Jan. 21.
Han was indicted on costs together with aiding and abetting the ringleader of an riot. If he’s certainly discovered responsible, it will likely be the primary ruling to legally acknowledge the character of the declaration of martial regulation as an riot try.
The ruling can be anticipated to set the precedent for rulings on different key defendants, together with Lee Sang-min, the previous inside minister who’s on trial for participating in important actions to an riot plot by making an attempt to chop electrical energy and water provides to information retailers. The court docket will pronounce its ruling on Lee’s case on Feb. 12. Prosecutors have sought 15 years in jail for each Han and Lee.
The ruling for the primary riot trial of Yoon and 7 others, together with navy and police commanders, shall be introduced on Feb. 19.
Through the closing listening to of the trial on Tuesday, the particular counsel crew prosecuting the case demanded the dying penalty for Yoon, life imprisonment for former Protection Minister Kim Yong-hyun, and 30 years in jail for former Protection Intelligence Command head Roh Sang-won.
In his closing argument that day, assistant particular counsel Park Eok-su defined the sentencing request by saying, “We should show that the Republic of Korea can defend its constitutional order by way of its personal legal justice system by sentencing these public officers to extra extreme punishments than the forces aligned with Chun and Roh obtained.”
The court docket’s ruling on Yoon will present the primary authorized resolution on the extent to which a sitting president’s train of emergency powers is permissible, given the unprecedented nature of a case by which a sitting president tried to stage an riot.
Choose Jee Kui-youn, who’s presiding over the case, stated that the court docket will base its judgment “solely on the Structure and authorized proof,” seeming to acknowledge the historic significance of the case.
Yoon is at present standing trial for six different legal circumstances moreover the riot and obstruction trials.
The previous president’s trial on costs of treason associated to alleged orders to ship drones to Pyongyang held its first listening to on Dec. 12, whereas preparations are underway for his trial on costs together with perjury for allegedly falsely testifying that he “pre-planned” the Cupboard assembly earlier than declaring martial regulation in Han’s trial.
The civic group Individuals’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy launched a press release on the upcoming verdicts on Wednesday.
“The courts should swiftly impose strict sentences on Yoon and different insurrectionists. It needs to be clear in its declaration to uphold the Structure and reply to the mandate of the sovereign individuals who defended democracy,” the group stated.
By Lee Na-young, employees reporter
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