SEOUL: A South Korean judge sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday to five years in prison for obstructing justice and other crimes linked to his disastrous martial law declaration and in its chaotic aftermath.
It is the first in a series of verdicts for the disgraced ex-leader, whose brief suspension of civilian rule in South Korea on Dec 3, 2024, prompted massive protests and a showdown in parliament.
Now ousted from power, he faces multiple trials for actions taken during that debacle and in the turmoil that followed.
On Friday, Judge Baek Dae-hyun at Seoul’s Central District Court said he found Yoon guilty of obstruction of justice by blocking investigators from detaining him.
Yoon was also found guilty of excluding cabinet members from a martial law planning meeting.
“Despite having a duty, above all others, to uphold the Constitution and observe the rule of law as president, the defendant instead displayed an attitude that disregarded the … Constitution,” Baek said.
“The defendant’s culpability is extremely grave,” he said.
But Yoon was not guilty of forging official documents due to lack of evidence, the judge said.
Yoon has seven days to appeal, he added.
Prosecutors had called for a 10-year prison term, while Yoon had insisted no law was broken.
After the verdict was announced, his supporters outside the court fell silent for several minutes before breaking into chants of “Yoon again!”
Yoon’s lawyers said the verdict “simplifies the boundary between the exercise of a president’s constitutional authority and criminal liability”.
“If this reasoning is allowed to stand, no future president will be able to act decisively in times of crisis,” lawyer Yu Jeong-hwa told reporters.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/south-korea-former-president-yoon-suk-yeol-court-jail-five-years-martial-law-verdict-5863441
