Court set to rule on ex-interior minister's insurrection trial

▲ Former Interior Minister Lee Sang-min (Yonhap)

ex-interior minister-trial

Court set to rule on ex-interior minister's insurrection trial

SEOUL, Feb. 12 (Yonhap) -- A court is set to deliver its verdict Thursday in the trial of former Interior Minister Lee Sang-min, who is accused of playing a key role in an insurrection in connection with former President Yoon Suk Yeol's failed bid to impose martial law in 2024.

Lee will be the second member of Yoon's Cabinet to be sentenced over the Dec. 3, 2024, emergency order after former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo last month received a 23-year prison term for his involvement in the short-lived attempt.

The Seoul Central District Court is scheduled to hold the sentencing hearing at 2 p.m., which will be broadcast live.

Special counsel Cho Eun-suk has demanded a 15-year prison term for Lee after indicting him on charges of abetting Yoon's martial law declaration and ordering the police and fire agencies to cut off power and water to media outlets critical of the then administration.

He has also been charged with perjury for denying during Yoon's impeachment trial last year that he received such instructions from the then president or conveyed them to the agencies.

During his trial, Lee denied taking part in planning Yoon's decree and argued that the former president's martial law decree cannot be seen as insurrection.

Yoon's own criminal trial on charges of leading an insurrection through the martial law decree concluded last month, with the special counsel demanding the death penalty.

The verdict of that case is set to be announced next Thursday.

Under the Constitution, an insurrection is defined as an act aimed at removing state authority from part or all of the country or the staging of a riot with the purpose of subverting the Constitution.

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