(Adnkronos) – Yoon Suk Yeol, the South Korean president suspended from office after attempting to impose martial law in the country, has been released after a court decided not to validate the arrest warrant. This was reported by the South Korean agency Yonhap, recalling the appeal filed last month by Yoon’s defense which argued that the charges for imposing martial law were illegal.
Meanwhile, the Constitutional Court’s ruling is expected in mid-month. The court has been called to assess the Yoon case to decide whether to formally remove him from office or return him to power. At the last hearing in recent days before the Constitutional Court in the impeachment proceedings, Yoon denied the accusations of “insurrection”.
The South Korean court ordered the release of Yoon, accepting the defense’s arguments and ruling that procedural rules were violated by keeping the president suspended from office in detention longer than permitted by law before indictment, explains the New York Times. The indictment on charges of insurrection came on January 26th.
But Yoon, under arrest since mid-January after holing up in his residence for weeks, was not released from the Uiwang detention center, south of Seoul, one of his lawyers, Seok Dong-hyun, said. The Prosecutor’s Office has one week to appeal and, Seok explained, during this time Yoon will remain in custody.
Today’s court decision only concerns the file relating to the procedures followed by the public prosecutors and not the charges against Yoon in relation to the decision to impose martial law on December 3, which was soon revoked.
