Court orders South Korea’s impeached President Yoon released from jail for his criminal trial

SEOUL — A South Korean court on Friday ordered impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol to be released from jail, more than a month after he was arrested and indicted over his short-lived imposition of martial law.

The decision by the Seoul Central District Court would allow Yoon to stand trial while not being physically detained. The hearings in his separate impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court concluded in late February, and the court is expected to rule soon on whether to formally remove him from office or reinstate him.

The Seoul Central District Court said it accepted Yoon’s request to be released from jail because the legal period of his formal arrest expired before he was indicted in late January. The court said the investigative agency that detained Yoon before his formal arrest didn’t have legal rights to investigate the criminal rebellion charges.

Yoon’s defense team welcomed the court’s decision and urged prosecutors to release him immediately. The presidential office also welcomed the court’s decision, saying it hopes Yoon will swiftly return to work.

South Korean law allows prosecutors to hold a suspect temporarily while they pursue an appeal.

Investigators have alleged that the martial law decree amounted to rebellion. If he’s convicted of that offense, he would face the death penalty or life imprisonment.

Yoon’s martial law decree, which involved the dispatch of troops and police forces to the National Assembly, evoked traumatic memories of past military governments among many South Koreans. The decree lasted only six hours as enough lawmakers managed to get into an assembly hall and voted to overturn it unanimously.

Yoon later argued that his decree was only meant to inform the people of the danger of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, which undermined his agenda and impeached top officials, and said he dispatched troops to the assembly only to maintain order. But some top military and police officers sent to the assembly have said at Constitutional Court hearings or told investigators that Yoon ordered them to drag out lawmakers to obstruct a vote on his decree or detain politicians.

If the Constitutional Court upholds Yoon’s impeachment, he will be officially thrown out of office and a national election will be held to choose his successor within two months.

Massive rallies by opponents and supporters of Yoon have filled the streets of Seoul and other major South Korean cities. Whatever the Constitutional Court decides, experts say it is likely to further polarize the country.

Yoon is the first South Korean president to be arrested while in office. South Korean law gives a president immunity from most criminal prosecution, but not for grave charges such as rebellion or treason.

By law, a president in South Korea has the power to put the country under martial law in wartime and similar emergency situations, but many experts say South Korea wasn’t in such condition when Yoon declared martial law.

Kim writes for the Associated Press.