Former President Yoon Suk Yeol Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison for Obstructing Arrest

[Anchor]

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol has been sentenced to seven years in prison for charges including the obstruction of the execution of an arrest warrant. This marks the first Supreme Court ruling against the former president, 583 days after the declaration of martial law.

Legal affairs correspondent Im Chanjong reports.

[Reporter]

The Supreme Court ruling against former President Yoon Suk Yeol covers charges that can be categorized into five areas, including the obstruction of an arrest.

These include obstructing the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) from executing an arrest warrant following the December 3 martial law declaration, infringing upon the deliberation rights of cabinet members during the martial law proclamation process, creating and subsequently destroying false covers for the martial law decree, and ordering the distribution of press releases containing false information to foreign media.

The case was handled by the Supreme Court's Third Division, consisting of four justices, rather than the full bench. Justice Oh Seok-jae recused himself from the trial, mindful of controversy regarding his personal ties to former President Yoon.

The Supreme Court upheld the lower court's decision, which found him guilty on most charges, confirming a seven-year prison sentence.

This is the first final ruling on former President Yoon's criminal charges related to insurrection, 583 days after the martial law declaration.

Notably, the Supreme Court provided a detailed explanation for why the CIO's investigative authority is recognized, effectively eliminating any room for Yoon's side to raise the same issue in the ongoing trial regarding his role as the ringleader of the insurrection.

[Justice Lee Heung-gu / Presiding Judge: (The defendant's charge of being the ringleader of an insurrection) is a crime directly related to the investigation of abuse of power, and thus falls under the related crimes stipulated in Article 2, Paragraph 4, Item D of the CIO Act. Therefore, the CIO holds the authority to investigate this.]

Former President Yoon's legal team expressed "deep regret that the case was concluded without sufficient deliberation," adding that they "will pursue constitutional complaint procedures with the Constitutional Court."

Meanwhile, Park Jong-jun, former Chief of the Presidential Security Service, and Kim Seong-hun, former Deputy Chief of the Presidential Security Service, who were indicted for obstructing the CIO's execution of the arrest warrant, were sentenced to four years and five years in prison, respectively, in the first trial.

Reported by Yang Hyun-cheol | Video edited by So Ji-hye

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