SEOUL, South Korea (news agencies) — A South Korean court has approved the arrest of former President Yoon Suk Yeol on charges related to his brief imposition of martial law in December, accepting a special prosecutor’s claim that he poses a risk of destroying evidence.
Yoon, who was ousted in April after the Constitutional Court upheld his impeachment, is heading back to a detention center near Seoul after four months. He had been released from that facility in March after the Seoul Central District Court overturned his January arrest, allowing him to stand trial for rebellion without being held in custody.
Yoon’s criminal case is now being handled by special prosecutor Cho Eun-suk, who is pursuing additional charges over his authoritarian push including abuse of power, falsifying official documents and obstruction of official duties.
Yoon’s lawyers had denounced the request for his arrest as excessive and lacking evidence.
Yoon appeared in court Wednesday and did not respond to questions. After a hearing lasting about seven hours, Yoon was taken to a detention center near Seoul to await the court’s decision.
Cho’s team said they view Yoon as a potential threat to destroy evidence. They questioned him twice before submitting a request for his arrest warrant to the court on Sunday.
The former conservative leader described his martial law imposition on Dec. 3 as a necessary step to quash his “anti-state” liberal opponents, accusing them of using their legislative majority to obstruct his agenda. But Yoon’s decree lasted only hours, after a quorum of lawmakers broke through a blockade of heavily armed soldiers at the National Assembly and voted to lift the measure.
Yoon was impeached by lawmakers Dec. 14 and indicted Jan. 26 by public prosecutors who accused him of masterminding an attempted rebellion, describing his power grab as an illegal attempt to seize the legislature and election offices and detain political opponents.
The charges are punishable by the death penalty or life imprisonment.
Yoon also faces accusations of enforcing martial law without following required legal procedure, such as deliberation by a formal Cabinet meeting, and of unlawfully deploying the presidential security forces like a private army to block an initial attempt by law enforcement to detain him at his residence in early January.
His liberal rival, Lee Jae Myung, who won the June snap election to replace him, last month approved legislation to launch sweeping special investigations into Yoon’s martial law debacle and other criminal allegations involving his wife and administration.
