Yoon Indicted for Abuse of Power After Losing Presidential Immunity

Application Filed to Merge Abuse of Power Charge with Insurrection Trial

Yonhap News

On May 1, prosecutors added the charge of abuse of power to the criminal trial against former President Yoon Suk-yeol, who is already facing trial as the ringleader of an insurrection. This indictment was made after Yoon was removed from office, thereby losing the presidential immunity from criminal prosecution (Article 84 of the Constitution).

The Special Investigation Headquarters for Martial Law (headed by Park Sehyun, Chief Prosecutor of the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office) indicted former President Yoon without detention on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of the exercise of rights. Prosecutors believe that Yoon abused his authority by declaring martial law without meeting the necessary conditions and by ordering the arrest of major politicians, thereby compelling the military and police to perform duties they were not obligated to carry out.

In fact, Article 84 of the Constitution stipulates, "The President shall not be prosecuted criminally during his tenure except for the crimes of insurrection or treason." Accordingly, the special investigation team had referred Yoon to trial on charges of insurrection only on January 26, before his removal from office. However, after Yoon was removed from office, additional charges were brought against him.

A representative of the special investigation team told reporters, "We have secured sufficient evidence through our investigation," and added, "The defendant's (Yoon Suk-yeol) position has been fully confirmed through the impeachment trial, the criminal trial, and public statements, so we determined that there was no issue in proceeding with the indictment." The representative also stated, "In fact, the abuse of power charge is not factually different from the insurrection charge, so we decided it would be best to indict quickly and have them reviewed together."

Regarding the reason for not indicting Yoon in detention, the representative explained, "Under Article 208 of the Criminal Procedure Act, investigative agencies cannot detain a person again for the same criminal facts, and re-detention is restricted." Since the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) had already obtained an arrest warrant for Yoon on January 19 on charges of insurrection and abuse of power, the law prohibits re-detention.

The prosecution has requested the Seoul Central District Court, which is handling Yoon's insurrection case, to merge the abuse of power case for joint proceedings. Regarding the overlap with the Supreme Court ruling date for Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, on charges of violating the Public Official Election Act, the prosecution stated, "We did not consider this at all, nor is there any need to consider it."

The special investigation team system is expected to be maintained for the time being in order to continue investigations and prosecutions, as there are still pending cases such as complaints against cabinet members during the martial law period.