Yoon’s lawyers blast court for being politically charged in sentencing ex-president

SEOUL, Jan. 17 (Yonhap) — Authorized representatives for former President Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday accused a Seoul courtroom of being politically motivated in its sentencing of their shopper the day past.

On Friday, the Seoul Central District Courtroom handed down a five-year jail time period on Yoon on expenses that included the obstruction of investigators’ try to detain him final 12 months. It was the primary ruling on expenses stemming from Yoon’s short-lived imposition of martial regulation in December 2024.

Particularly, Yoon was charged with ordering the Presidential Safety Service to dam investigators from executing a warrant to detain him on the presidential residence in January 2025.

Yoon’s authorized crew launched a press release Saturday saying the courtroom’s ruling was “purely based mostly on political reasoning,” whereas additionally lamenting the “disappearance of authorized ideas and collapse of constitutionalism.”

“A decide should acknowledge the affect his ruling can have on society, however on the identical time, that recognition alone should not be the explanation to change requirements for his determination,” the attorneys stated. “A trial have to be concluded based mostly on proof and regulation, not on political and social local weather. The judiciary can keep its independence and credibility, and its rulings could be accepted solely when this precept is honored.”

Yoon’s attorneys repeated most of the identical claims that they’d made in the course of the trial, arguing, as an illustration, investigators had unlawfully entered a spot that had not been specified within the detention warrant for Yoon.

The authorized crew stated the Seoul Central District Courtroom didn’t meet the factors for impartiality by rejecting these claims.

The attorneys had stated Friday they might instantly attraction the courtroom’s determination, which they described as “unacceptable.”

Friday’s ruling might have implications for subsequent month’s verdict on expenses that Yoon led an revolt via his short-lived decree.

Particular prosecutors demanded the demise penalty for Yoon over the revolt cost earlier this week. The courtroom is ready to rule on the case on Feb. 19.

The previous president is standing a complete of eight trials in reference to the martial regulation try, his spouse’s alleged corruption and the 2023 demise of a Marine.
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