SEOUL, South Korea — SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol appeared in court docket Thursday for a listening to the place his attorneys contested his arrest on a legal cost alleging he was orchestrating a rebel when he briefly imposed martial legislation in December.
Safety was heightened because the motorcade transporting Yoon arrived on the Seoul Central District Court docket and dozens of his supporters rallied close by.
The preliminary listening to will contain discussions of witnesses and different preparations for his legal trial, and the court docket was additionally to evaluate the request by Yoon’s attorneys to cancel his arrest and launch him from custody. Such challenges are hardly ever profitable.
Yoon was indicted Jan. 26 on the rebel cost carrying a possible punishment of demise or life in jail. In South Korea, presidents have immunity from most legal prosecutions, however not on costs of rebel or treason.
The indictment alleges his imposition of martial legislation was an unlawful try and shut down the Nationwide Meeting and arrest politicians and election authorities. The conservative Yoon has mentioned his martial legislation declaration was meant as a short lived warning to the liberal opposition and that he had at all times deliberate to respect lawmakers’ will in the event that they voted to carry the measure.
Yoon’s presidential powers had been suspended when he was impeached Dec. 14, and South Korea’s Constitutional Court docket is nearing a choice on whether or not to formally take away him from workplace or dismiss the Meeting’s impeachment and reinstate him.
Martial legislation was lifted about six hours after Yoon declared it however has triggered political turmoil, disrupted high-level diplomacy and examined the resiliency of the nation’s democracy. Yoon’s conservative supporters rioted on the Seoul Western District Court docket after it licensed his arrest final month, whereas his attorneys and ruling celebration have overtly questioned the credibility of courts and legislation enforcement establishments dealing with the case.
Yoon has continued to precise contempt for his liberal rivals for obstructing his agenda and endorsed baseless conspiracy theories about election fraud to justify his ill-fated authoritarian push.
Yoon’s protection minister, police chief and several other army commanders have additionally been arrested and indicted on rebel, abuse of energy and different costs associated to the martial legislation decree, which concerned a whole lot of closely armed troops deployed to the Nationwide Meeting and Nationwide Election Fee places of work.
