Yoon Suk-Youol, removed from office, had been arrested since January 15; court considered that maximum prison time before indictment was violated
Yoon Suk-Youol (Popular Power Party), president of South Korea that is removed from office, was released on Saturday (8.mar.2025) of a detention center. The Central District Court of Seoul ruled on Friday (7.mar) that prosecutors violated rules by keeping Yoon detained for a longer period than that legally allowed before indicating it in January. Prosecutors, who had 7 days to appeal, requested their release.
Yoon faces accusations of insurrection for trying to mark the country in December 2024, which restricted rights and changed the legislation to military orders. South Korea Parliament to the measure hours later. Yoon Suk has suffered because of the act and has been removed from office since December 14.
According to reports from the news agency, the president went smiling and waving to his supporters of the South Seoul Detention Center, where since January 15.
“I thank the courage and determination of the Court to correct the illegality”Yoon said in a statement.
Liberation, however, does not affect criminal proceedings related to martial law or procedures in the Constitutional Court, which evaluates whether its parliamentary impeachment was legitimate and if it must be formally deprived of office. The decision only allows Yoon to wait for the trial in freedom.
The South Korean President’s lawyers deny the prosecutors’ accusations and reinforced the defense thesis that “The president’s statement of martial law can never be considered a crime of insurrection”.
According to Yoon’s team, Marial’s law was given as a warning to opposition parties in Parliament, and that the accusation is “illegal and fraudulent”
The case unfolds during one of the largest political crises in recent South Korea, a country that has seen several former presidents face legal proceedings after leaving office.
Yoon is the 1st South Korean president to declare martial law since Chun Doo-Hwan in the 1980s, as he historically evokes memories of the authoritarian era in the country.
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