A South Korean court on Friday ordered impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol to be released from jail, a move that could allow Yoon to stand trial for his rebellion charge without being physically detained.
Yoon was arrested and indicted in January over the Dec. 3 martial law decree that plunged the country into political turmoil. The opposition-controlled parliament separately voted to impeach him, leading to his suspension from office.
The hearings in his impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court concluded in late February, and that court is expected to rule soon on whether to formally remove him from office or reinstate him.
The Seoul Central District Court said it accepted Yoon’s request to be released from jail because the legal period of his formal arrest expired before he was indicted.
The court also cited the need to resolve questions over the legality of the investigations on Yoon. Yoon’s lawyers have accused the investigative agency that detained him before his formal arrest of lacking legal authority to probe rebellion charges.
Investigators have alleged that the martial-law decree amounted to rebellion. If he’s convicted of that offense, he would face the death penalty or life imprisonment.
Yoon’s defense team welcomed the court’s decision and urged prosecutors to release him immediately. The presidential office also welcomed the court’s decision, saying it hopes Yoon will swiftly return to work.
However, South Korea law allows prosecutors to continue to hold a suspect whose arrest has been suspended by a court temporarily while pursuing an appeal.
The main liberal opposition Democratic Party, which led Yoon’s Dec. 14 impeachment, called on prosecutors to immediately appeal the court’s ruling.
Yoon’s martial law decree, which involved the dispatch of troops and police forces to the National Assembly, evoked traumatic memories of past military rules among many South Koreans. The decree lasted only six hours, as enough lawmakers managed to get into an assembly hall and voted to overturn it unanimously.
Yoon later argued his decree was only meant to inform the people of the danger of the opposition Democratic Party, which undermined his agenda and impeached top officials, and said he dispatched troops to the assembly only in order to maintain order. But some top military and police officers sent to the assembly have told Constitutional Court hearings or investigators that Yoon ordered them to drag out lawmakers to obstruct a vote on his decree or detain politicians.
If the Constitutional Court upholds Yoon’s impeachment, he will be officially thrown out of office and a national election will be held to choose his successor within two months. If the court rejects his impeachment but he is still in jail, it’s unclear whether and how soon he will be able to exercise his presidential powers.
Massive rallies by opponents and supporters of Yoon have filled the streets of Seoul and other major South Korean cities. Whatever the Constitutional Court decides, experts say it will likely further polarize the country and intensify its conservative-liberal divide.
Yoon is the first South Korean president to be arrested while in office. South Korean law gives a president immunity from most criminal prosecution, but not for grave charges like rebellion or treason.
By law, a president in South Korea has the power to put the country under martial law in wartime and similar emergency situations, but many experts say South Korea wasn’t in such a state when Yoon declared martial law.
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