Cho Eun-seok VS Yoon Suk-yeol. Photo provided by the joint press corps.

The special prosecution team led by Cho Eun-seok on the 26th requested a total prison sentence of 10 years for former President Yoon Suk-yeol on charges of obstructing arrest and infringing upon the deliberation and resolution rights of State Council members.

At the final hearing for the case concerning charges including obstruction of special public service and abuse of power against former President Yoon, held at the Seoul Central District Court's Criminal Division 35 (Presiding Judge Baek Dae-hyun) on the same day, the special prosecution team requested this sentence.

The special prosecution team requested a five-year prison sentence for charges related to obstructing Yoon's arrest, and a three-year sentence for charges of infringing upon the deliberation and resolution rights of State Council members, spreading false information to foreign correspondents, and destroying evidence related to the hidden phones. For the part concerning the creation of a false emergency martial law proclamation, a two-year prison sentence was requested.

The special prosecution team defined the crime as "a serious offense where the defendant privatized state institutions to conceal and justify their actions."

The special prosecution team pointed out, "The defendant's actions have severely damaged the rule of law in the Republic of Korea and deeply hurt the public who elected the president based on trust in the defendant. Despite this, throughout the investigation and trial, the defendant repeatedly asserted the legitimacy and illegality of proclaiming emergency martial law, rather than expressing remorse or apology to the public."

They added, "It is necessary to hold the defendant strictly accountable to restore the Constitution and the rule of law that have been undermined due to the defendant, and to prevent the recurrence of abuse of power crimes by the highest authority in the history of the Republic of Korea."

The special prosecution team reported that in July, they arrested and indicted former President Yoon, believing he had infringed upon the constitutional right of nine State Council members to deliberate and resolve on martial law by convening only a few State Council members who were favorable to him, solely to create the appearance of a State Council meeting at the time of proclaiming emergency martial law.

Former President Yoon is also accused of creating a false proclamation of martial law stating that it was made under documents signed by former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun after the lifting of emergency martial law, and of destroying these documents, which are presidential records and public documents.

Furthermore, he is accused of directing the dissemination of a PG (Press Guidance, government stance for media response) containing false information that "there was no intention to destroy the constitutional order" to foreign media, and of ordering the deletion of communication records from hidden phones of individuals including former Commander of the Defense Counterintelligence Command Yeo In-hyung, and of preventing the execution of an arrest warrant from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) in January of this year by the Presidential Security Service.