▲ This file photo, taken Sept. 12, 2023, shows former President Yoon Suk Yeol (L) and former Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup at the presidential office in central Seoul. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with details, reactions from Yoon's lawyers, special counsel)

SEOUL, Sept. 11 (Yonhap) -- A Seoul court on Friday acquitted former President Yoon Suk Yeol of charges of helping a former defense minister evade a criminal investigation by naming him ambassador to Australia in 2023.

The Seoul Central District Court found Yoon not guilty of multiple charges brought by special counsel Lee Myeong-hyeon's team, including aiding a criminal's flight and abuse of power.

The team had sought a five-year prison term for Yoon, accusing him of ordering the appointment of former Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup as ambassador to Australia in November 2023 to help him evade an investigation into the alleged cover-up of a Marine's death earlier that year.

The special counsel team said it would decide whether to appeal after reviewing the ruling, while Yoon's lawyers welcomed the acquittal as an "extremely obvious" conclusion.

The special counsel team argued during the trial that Yoon had sent Lee, a key suspect in the alleged cover-up case, abroad in a clear attempt to obstruct the investigation targeting his administration.

The suspected cover-up case faced intense public scrutiny at the time over allegations that Yoon had exerted pressure to alter the findings of a Marine inquiry into the death of Cpl. Chae Su-geun to clear a Marine commander of responsibility.

Chae died in July 2023 during an operation to rescue heavy rain victims in Yecheon, some 160 kilometers southeast of Seoul. Lee left for Australia in March 2024 but returned only days after due to the controversy.

The court, however, ruled that Yoon's instructions to appoint Lee could not be definitively seen as having intent to interfere with the investigation, noting that the former president had only learned of a travel ban against Lee in March 2024, months after he tapped the former defense minister as a new ambassador to Australia.

It said there is room to see the orders as a head of state exercising his authority over personnel decisions and could not be seen as "rashly" replacing the preceding ambassador with the former minister.

The court also acquitted five other former officials indicted in the case, including former National Security Adviser Cho Tae-yong and former Justice Minister Park Sung-jae.

Yoon has been standing multiple trials in connection with his failed bid to impose martial law in 2024, his wife's alleged corruption and the case of the Marine's death.

The main trial on charges that he led an insurrection through his martial law bid is under way at an appellate court after a lower court sentenced him to life in prison in February.

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