▲ Former President Yoon Suk Yeol
The Supreme Court is scheduled to deliver its verdict on July 9 regarding the case of former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who faces charges including the obstruction of an arrest warrant execution by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO).
This will be the first Supreme Court ruling on the former president since the December 3 emergency martial law declaration, marking 583 days, or one year and seven months, since the incident.
The Supreme Court's Third Division (Justice Lee Sook-yeon presiding) will hold the sentencing hearing for the appeal trial at 2:00 p.m. on July 9, covering charges such as obstruction of special public duties and abuse of power.
Former President Yoon was arrested and indicted in July of last year by the special prosecutor team led by Cho Eun-seok, on charges of mobilizing Presidential Security Service staff in January of last year to block the execution of an arrest warrant issued by the CIO.
He is also accused of infringing upon the martial law deliberation rights of nine cabinet members who were unable to attend the meeting, by convening only a select few to create the appearance of a formal cabinet meeting at the time the martial law was declared.
Additional charges include the creation and subsequent destruction of a false martial law declaration document, designed to make it appear as though the martial law had been implemented based on documents countersigned by former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun after the martial law was lifted.
In April, the Seoul High Court's Criminal Division 1 (Presiding Judge Yoon Seong-sik), which handles insurrection cases, sentenced him to seven years in prison in the second trial.
While this was a two-year increase from the five-year sentence handed down in the first trial, it remains lower than the 10-year sentence requested by the special prosecutor team.
The second trial found the former president guilty on all counts, including the obstruction of the CIO's arrest warrant execution and the infringement of the deliberation rights of the nine cabinet members who were excluded from the martial law cabinet meeting.
The court also overturned the first trial's acquittal regarding the charge that Yoon ordered the dissemination of a press guidance document to foreign media containing the false claim that he had no intention of undermining the constitutional order, finding him guilty instead.
Furthermore, the court upheld the guilty verdict regarding the creation and destruction of the false martial law declaration document involving former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun.
However, the court maintained the same stance as the first trial in acquitting him of the charge of uttering the false official document.
(Photo: Provided by Seoul Central District Court, Yonhap News)
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