SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea’s former President Yoon Suk Yeol will appear on Wednesday at a Seoul court, which will consider a special prosecutor’s request to detain him as part of a probe into his botched bid to impose martial law.
The Seoul Central District Court will hear from the special counsel team investigating Yoon’s martial law decree in December and Yoon’s legal team on the request to detain the deposed president over allegations of abuse of power and obstruction of justice.
After the hearing, Yoon is expected to await the court’s decision at the Seoul Detention Center, or in a detention area within the court, the special prosecutor’s team has said.
There has been tight security around the court, which is expected to announce a decision late on Wednesday or in the early hours of Thursday.
Yoon was ousted in April by the Constitutional Court, which upheld his impeachment by parliament for his martial law bid that shocked South Koreans and triggered months of political turmoil, entrenching already deep divisions in the country.
The former conservative president is already under a criminal trial on charges that his attempt to rule the country using martial law amounted to an insurrection, a charge that is punishable by a life sentence or even death.
But the probe has picked up pace since the special prosecution began its investigation after liberal President Lee Jae Myung was elected in June and has been looking at additional charges, including accusations Yoon mobilised presidential guards to stop authorities from arresting him in January.
He was previously taken into custody over the earlier criminal probe but was released from jail after 52 days on technical grounds.
The detention warrant request was made on the grounds of him being a flight risk and concerns that he might interfere with witnesses linked to his case, local media reported, citing the special prosecutors’ request.
If Yoon is detained, he is expected to be held at the Seoul Detention Center, and the special prosecution is expected to speed up a probe into additional allegations including whether Yoon hurt South Korea’s interests by intentionally inflaming tensions with North Korea.
Yoon’s lawyers have rejected all the allegations against him, saying the detention warrant request is unreasonable and the investigation lacks objective evidence.
(Reporting by Joyce LeeEditing by Ed Davies and Saad Sayeed)
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