Impeached South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol was released from prison a day after a Seoul court lifted his arrest to allow him to stand trial on sedition charges without detention.
Emerging from a detention centre near the capital, Yun waved, clenched his fists and bowed deeply to supporters who chanted his name and waved South Korean and American flags.
He got into a black van and drove to his presidential residence in Seoul.
In a statement released by his lawyers, Yoon said he “appreciates the courage and decision of the Seoul Central District Court to correct the illegality,” apparently referring to the legal disputes over his arrest.
He also thanked his supporters and called on those who have declared a hunger strike against his impeachment to end the action.
In January, Yun was arrested and charged by prosecutors in connection with the Dec. 3 martial law decree that plunged the country into political turmoil.
The liberal opposition-controlled National Assembly separately voted to impeach him, resulting in his removal from office.
The Constitutional Court was deliberating whether to formally dismiss or reinstate Yun. If the court upholds his impeachment, a national election would be held within two months to find his successor.
The Seoul Central District Court said on Friday it had granted Yoon's request to be released from prison, citing the need to resolve questions about the legality of investigations into the president.
His lawyers accused the investigating agency that detained him before his formal arrest of lacking the legal authority to investigate the sedition charges.
The Seoul court also said the legal period for his formal arrest had expired before he could be charged.
Yoon's release came after prosecutors decided not to appeal the Seoul court's ruling. South Korean law allows prosecutors to continue holding a suspect while an appeal is pending, even after his detention is overturned by a court.
The main liberal opposition Democratic Party, which led the impeachment of Yoon on Dec. 14, criticized the prosecutors' decision, calling them “henchmen” of Yoon, a former attorney general.
Party spokesman Cho Seung-rae called on the Constitutional Court to dismiss Yoon as soon as possible to avoid further public unrest and unrest.
The main focus of public criticism of Yun over his martial law decree was his deployment of hundreds of soldiers and police to the National Assembly after the country was placed under martial law.
Some senior military and police officials sent to the assembly said he ordered them to remove lawmakers to prevent parliament from voting on the ordinance. Yun countered that he intended to maintain order.
Eventually, enough lawmakers managed to enter the chamber and vote unanimously to repeal Yun's decree.
Investigators say his martial law decree amounted to mutiny. If convicted of the crime, he faces the death penalty or life in prison.
Yun has presidential immunity from most criminal prosecutions, but it does not extend to serious charges such as rebellion and treason.
He said he did not intend to maintain martial law for long, as he was only trying to inform the public of the dangers of the Democratic Party, which had thwarted his plans and impeached many high-ranking officials and prosecutors.
In his statement announcing martial law, he called the gathering a “den of criminals” and “anti-state forces.”
South Korea's conservative-liberal divide is wide, and rallies supporting or condemning Yoon's impeachment have divided the streets of Seoul. Experts say whatever the Constitutional Court decides, the divide is likely to widen.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
