Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was released from custody on Friday after a court accepted his request to cancel his arrest over his short-lived imposition of martial law, Yonhap News Agency reported.
As per the details, Yoon filed the request with the Seoul Central District Court last month, claiming his indictment over the December 3 martial law declaration was illegal.
The request of Yoon to be released from the jail was accepted by the court stating that the legal period of Yoon’s formal arrest expired before he was indicted in late January. The court said the investigative agency that detained Yoon before his formal arrest didn’t have legal rights to investigate the criminal rebellion charges, AP reported.
However, the investigators have alleged that the martial-law decree amounted to rebellion. If Yoon is convicted of that offense, he would face the death penalty or life imprisonment.
Yoon had been held at a detention center since investigators detained him and brought him there on January 15 on charges of inciting an insurrection through his failed bid to impose martial law in December last year. The decree lasted only six hours as enough lawmakers managed to get into an assembly hall and voted to overturn it unanimously.
He later argued his decree was only meant to inform the people of the danger of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, which undermined his agenda and impeached top officials.
The presidential office on Friday welcomed the court’s decision to release impeached President from custody. In a statement, the presidential office said it “welcomes the decision to revoke the president’s arrest”, Yonhap News Agency reported.
South Korea Martial Law
South Korea’s constitution gives the president the power to use the military to keep order in wartime, war-like situations or other comparable national emergency states, as per AP. Martial law powers can include suspending civil rights such as freedom of the press and assembly and temporarily limiting the powers of the courts and government agencies.
The impeachment motion against Yoon alleges that he imposed martial law far beyond his legitimate powers and in a situation that did not meet the constitutional standard of a severe crisis. The constitution also doesn’t allow a president to use the military to suspend parliament. The motion argues that suspending political party activities and deploying troops to seal the National Assembly amounted to rebellion.
