South Korea’s impeached and arrested president, Yoon Suk Yeol, was formally indicted on Sunday on fees of main an rebellion final month when he briefly imposed martial legislation, prosecutors mentioned.
Mr. Yoon’s indictment signifies that his trial is more likely to begin quickly. It follows the indictments of a former protection minister and a number of other navy generals and police chiefs, all of whom face prison fees of serving to Mr. Yoon commit the identical crime.
He’s the primary president in South Korean historical past to face prison fees whereas nonetheless in workplace.
His downfall started when he unexpectedly declared martial legislation on Dec. 3, accusing the opposition-controlled Nationwide Meeting of “paralyzing” his authorities. The Meeting voted the measure down, forcing him to rescind the order after about six hours. Nevertheless it has set off South Korea’s worst political disaster in many years.
As folks known as for Mr. Yoon’s ouster, the Meeting impeached him on Dec. 14, suspending him from workplace. The nation’s Constitutional Court docket is deliberating whether or not the parliamentary impeachment was authentic and if he ought to be formally faraway from workplace. Individually, prison investigators detained Mr. Yoon on the rebellion fees on Jan. 15.
From his jail cell, Mr. Yoon has vowed to struggle to regain workplace.
A majority of South Koreans authorised of his impeachment and think about him responsible of rebellion, based on public opinion polls. However Mr. Yoon’s die-hard supporters have known as his impeachment “fraud.” A few of them shocked the nation once they vandalized a courthouse in Seoul after considered one of its judges authorised a warrant to arrest him on Jan. 19. Practically 60 folks have been arrested in reference to that unrest.
Prosecutors mentioned that Mr. Yoon dedicated rebellion throughout the short-lived imposition of martial legislation when, they mentioned, he banned all political actions and ordered navy commanders to interrupt the Meeting’s doorways down “with axes” or “by taking pictures, if crucial” and “drag out” lawmakers. They mentioned Mr. Yoon despatched the troops there to grab the Meeting and detain political leaders.
The nation watched the live-streamed scenes of particular forces troops armed with assault rifles storming the Meeting as lawmakers have been gathering there to vote in opposition to martial legislation. However Mr. Yoon has rejected the cost of rebellion, saying that he by no means meant to neutralize the Parliament or arrest political leaders. The troops have been there to “preserve order,” he mentioned.
Mr. Yoon’s indictment, though not a shock, got here prior to anticipated.
State prosecutors have been investigating the previous protection minister and generals. The nation’s Corruption Investigation Workplace for Excessive-ranking Officers took on the rebellion case in opposition to Mr. Yoon, however by legislation, solely prosecutors can indict him.
Mr. Yoon has refused to cooperate with the inquiry; he and his legal professionals have insisted that the four-year-old workplace has no proper to analyze him.
On Thursday, the Corruption Investigation Workplace handed his case over to prosecutors. The 2 had earlier agreed that prosecutors had till early February to indict Mr. Yoon, and prosecutors had deliberate to additional examine Mr. Yoon’s actions.
However on Friday, a decide in a Seoul courtroom dominated that Mr. Yoon have to be both be indicted sooner or launched as a result of the Corruption Investigation Workplace had already carried out an investigation.