Seoul Central District Court Denies Both Requests to Extend Detention of President Yoon
No Change in Interpretation of Article 26 of the HOGICO Act
"Extension of Detention for Additional Investigation Not Justified"
Indictment Expected Before Detention Expires Without Further Investigation; First Detention Period Ends on the 27th
Prosecution Prepared Indictment in Advance; High-Level Meeting to Be Chaired by Prosecutor General
President Yoon's Side Issues Statement, Asserting "Immediate Release Needed... Indictment Unjustified"
The Seoul Central District Court ultimately denied all requests by the prosecution to extend the detention period of President Yoon Seok-yeol, which were made twice. The court maintained its stance that the High-ranking Officials' Crimes Investigation Office (HOGICO) is responsible for investigations, while the prosecution handles indictments, in line with the intent of the HOGICO Act, and therefore found that extending the detention period for additional investigation was not justified. Accordingly, the prosecution is expected to proceed with indictment without further investigation ahead of the detention expiration on the 27th.
The Prosecution's Special Investigation Headquarters for Emergency Martial Law (Head: Park Se-hyun, Chief Prosecutor of Seoul High Prosecutors' Office) announced late on the 25th, "The request for extension of detention was denied," adding, "The reasons are similar to those given on the previous day (24th)." After Judge Kim Seok-beom of the Seoul Central District Court, who is in charge of warrants, denied the extension request on the 24th, the prosecution re-applied for the extension around 2 a.m. on the 25th. However, Judge Choi Min-hye of Criminal Division 26, who was on duty, also judged that there was no necessity or justification to extend the detention period.
The key issue regarding the extension of detention for additional investigation of President Yoon was Article 26 of the HOGICO Act. The prosecution interpreted that Article 26, cited by the court as the basis for denying the extension, stipulates that HOGICO must forward cases it cannot directly indict to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, and that the prosecutor handling the case must promptly notify whether to prosecute, but it cannot be interpreted as requiring separation of investigation and indictment. According to Article 196 of the Criminal Procedure Act, which the HOGICO Act must apply, prosecutors must investigate if there is suspicion of a crime, and under Article 4 of the Prosecutors' Office Act, despite some restrictions, cases received from HOGICO can be sufficiently investigated.
On the other hand, the court judged that the purpose of ensuring fairness in investigations is to separate investigation and indictment, and this applies between HOGICO and the prosecution office as well, which is the intent of Article 26 of the HOGICO Act. The court also cited the legislative intent of the HOGICO Act to establish HOGICO as an independent body to investigate crimes of high-ranking officials, and the absence of explicit provisions in the HOGICO Act regarding the scope or existence of supplementary investigative authority for prosecutors belonging to the prosecution office, as grounds for denying the extension of detention.
Past cases supplemented by the prosecution when reapplying for the extension also failed to convince the court. The prosecution reinforced the reasons for extending detention by citing past cases such as the case of former Seoul Education Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon and the case of former Busan Education Superintendent Kim Seok-jun involving irregular special hiring of dismissed teachers.
HOGICO requested prosecution of former Superintendent Cho on September 3, 2021, and the prosecution took over the case, conducted supplementary investigations, and indicted Cho without detention. In the case of former Superintendent Kim, after HOGICO forwarded the case with a prosecution opinion, additional searches of his residence were conducted.
However, the court once again judged that "in cases where a HOGICO prosecutor investigates crimes involving high-ranking officials and forwards the prosecution request along with documents and evidence to a prosecutor at the prosecution office, it is difficult to find substantial reasons for the prosecution office prosecutor who receives the case to continue the investigation."
Indictment Expected Before Detention Expires on 'Leader of Rebellion' Charges... Decision Likely by the 26th
Following HOGICO, the prosecution is also expected to proceed with indictment of President Yoon, who faces charges as the 'leader of rebellion,' without conducting meaningful face-to-face questioning. Initially, the prosecution and HOGICO had discussed dividing the investigation into ten-day periods based on extending President Yoon's detention, but the court's denial made additional investigation at the prosecution stage difficult.
HOGICO conducted suspect questioning of President Yoon on the 15th, immediately after his arrest, based on a prepared questionnaire of over 200 pages, at the video recording interrogation room on the 3rd floor of Building 5 at the Government Complex Gwacheon. However, President Yoon consistently refused to provide related statements, claiming that HOGICO's investigation into the charge of rebellion was illegal. HOGICO subsequently attempted forced detention three times between the 20th and 22nd but failed due to refusal by President Yoon's side. Ultimately, on the 23rd, HOGICO forwarded the case to the prosecution with a prosecution opinion.
The prosecution must indict or release President Yoon within the first detention period. The prosecution considers the first detention period to last until the 27th but is expected to decide on indictment earlier, likely on the 26th. The prosecution has prepared the indictment in advance, anticipating the court's denial of the detention extension. A prosecution official explained, "Regarding the handling of President Yoon's case, a meeting will be held at 10 a.m. on the 26th, chaired by the Prosecutor General, with participation from the Deputy Prosecutor General, department heads of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, and chief prosecutors of high prosecutors' offices nationwide."
The prosecution has already investigated and indicted former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, former Army Special Warfare Command Commander Kwak Jong-geun, former Capital Defense Command Commander Lee Jin-woo, and Police Commissioner Cho Ji-ho as accomplices in the rebellion charges, and has secured substantial physical evidence through searches of the Military Counterintelligence Command, Special Warfare Command, and Capital Defense Command. Therefore, there is expected to be no difficulty in drafting and filing an indictment against President Yoon on charges of being the 'leader of rebellion.'
Meanwhile, President Yoon's side issued a statement immediately after the court again denied the extension of detention, stating, "The prosecution's only choice is the immediate release of the president," and vowed to hold HOGICO accountable for its illegal investigation. They further claimed, "The prosecution has clearly confirmed that it can only decide whether to indict and has no legal grounds to conduct additional or supplementary investigations."
They also criticized that the prosecution's request for detention extension admitted that HOGICO's investigation into the president's rebellion charges was so insufficient that additional investigation was necessary to determine whether to indict. President Yoon's side stated, "If the prosecution forcibly indicts while detaining, it would be an act of abandoning the duty to discover substantive truth and denying the very reason for the prosecution's existence as the highest investigative agency."
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