South Korea: Special counsel indicts Yoon on charges of power abuse in martial law declaration

Seoul, July 19 A special counsel team indicted former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday on charges of abuse of authority over his short-lived imposition of martial law.

It marks Yoon's third indictment with detention following previous ones in January and in March related to his martial law declaration on December 3 and other power abuse charges.

According to the team led by special counsel Cho Eun-suk, Yoon is accused of violating the rights of Cabinet members during the martial law deliberation process, retroactively drafting the martial law declaration, ordering the deletion of records from encrypted phones and other offences.

The team had attempted to question Yoon multiple times since his second detention last week, but failed as Yoon declined to appear, Yonhap news agency reported.

On Friday, a court had dismissed Yoon Suk Yeol's petition against his arrest, keeping him in custody over his failed attempt to impose martial law.

The Seoul Central District Court issued the ruling hours after concluding a hearing that reviewed the legality of Yoon's arrest and whether it should remain in place.

"Based on the results of our questioning of the suspect and the case records, it was recognised that the request was without reason and dismissed," the bench had said.

The ousted president had filed for the review on Wednesday, less than a week after he was placed under arrest at the Seoul Detention Centre in Uiwang, just south of the capital, over five key charges related to his martial law bid in December.

The closed-door hearing at the court began at 10:15 am on Friday and ended around six hours later after Yoon's lawyers and special counsel Cho Eun-suk's team presented contrary arguments for and against his release.

Yoon's lawyers had reportedly stressed that the criminal charges levelled against him cannot be supported and that he poses no risk of destroying evidence.

In particular, they sought to highlight that the five key charges the special counsel team listed on the arrest warrant -- including his alleged violation of the rights of Cabinet members and his alleged creation of a false martial law document -- were already covered under the insurrection charge for which Yoon is currently standing trial.

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