Court orders South Korean President Yoon released from jail

SEOUL, South Korea — A South Korean court on Friday ordered impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol to be released from jail, more than a month after he was arrested and indicted over his short-lived imposition of martial law.

The decision by the Seoul Central District Court would allow Yoon to stand his criminal trial while not being physically detained. The hearings in his impeachment trial concluded in late February and the court is expected to rule soon on whether to uphold his impeachment or remove him from office.

The Seoul Central District Court said it accepted Yoon’s request to be released from jail because the legal period of his formal arrest expired before he was indicted in late January. The court said the investigative agency that detained Yoon before his formal arrest didn’t have legal rights to investigate the criminal rebellion charges.

Investigators have alleged that the martial-law decree amounted to rebellion. If he’s convicted of that offense, he would face the death penalty or life imprisonment.

Yoon’s martial law decree, which involved the dispatch of troops to the National Assembly, evoked traumatic memories of past military rules among many South Koreans. The decree lasted only six hours as enough lawmakers managed to get into an assembly hall and voted to overturn it unanimously. Yoon later argued his decree was only meant to inform the people of the danger of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, which undermined his agenda and impeached top officials.

If the Constitutional Court upholds Yoon’s impeachment, he will be officially thrown out of office and a national election will be held to choose his successor within two months.