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| ▲ Former President Yoon Suk Yeol (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ A police bus is parked outside the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul on Jan. 15, 2026. (Yonhap) |
(LEAD) court-ex-president
(LEAD) Ex-President Yoon to receive 1st court sentence this week over obstruction of justice, other charges
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By Chae Yun-hwan
SEOUL, Jan. 15 (Yonhap) -- Former President Yoon Suk Yeol will receive his first court verdict this week over obstruction of justice and other charges related to his short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024, officials said Thursday, days after a special counsel team demanded the death penalty for him on insurrection charges.
The Seoul Central District Court will hold the sentencing hearing of Yoon's trial on special obstruction of public duty and other charges in connection to his failed martial law bid at 2 p.m. Friday.
The court approved live broadcasts of the hearing apparently in consideration of the public's interest in the case.
It marks Yoon's first sentencing of the eight cases he is standing trial on, including over charges he led an insurrection through his Dec. 3 martial law declaration in 2024.
Friday's sentencing centers on charges Yoon blocked investigators from detaining him in January last year, violated the rights of nine Cabinet members who were not called to a meeting to review his martial law plan, and drafted and destroyed a revised proclamation after the decree was lifted.
Last month, special counsel Cho Eun-suk's team demanded the court sentence him to 10 years in prison for the charges, arguing the ousted leader "privatized" a national agency to conceal and justify his crimes.
In the trial's closing statements, Yoon defended his use of the Presidential Security Service to block investigators from detaining him, claiming that presidential security cannot be too excessive, no matter the extent it goes.
Yoon was ultimately detained by investigators on Jan. 15 last year, 12 days after the first attempt failed.
This week's sentencing takes place before another bench of the Seoul Central District Court will deliver a verdict on his insurrection trial on Feb. 19.
On Tuesday, the special counsel team demanded the death penalty for the former president on charges of leading an insurrection through his martial law declaration.
Yoon's remaining six cases include those brought by two other special counsel teams that separately investigated corruption allegations surrounding his wife, former first lady Kim Keon Hee, and alleged interference in a probe into the 2023 death of a Marine.
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