Supreme Court to issue first ruling on Yoon next week in arrest-obstruction case

By Yang Geun-hyuk, The Herald Business

The Supreme Court will issue its first ruling on former President Yoon Suk Yeol — who faces eight criminal trials stemming from his Dec. 3 emergency martial law declaration — next week.

The Supreme Court's Third Division, presided over by Justice Lee Suk-yeon, is set to deliver its ruling July 9 at 2 p.m. on Yoon's appeal against a seven-year prison sentence on charges including obstruction of special official duties. The court assigned the case to the Third Division on May 20 and has been deliberating since. The division is composed of Justices Lee Heung-gu, Oh Seok-jun, Noh Gyeong-pil and Lee Suk-yeon.

Yoon is accused of mobilizing the Presidential Security Service last year to block the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials from executing an arrest warrant against him. He also faces charges of convening a Cabinet meeting before the martial law declaration with only some ministers present, obstructing the remaining ministers from exercising their constitutional right to deliberate on martial law. Additional charges include fabricating and then destroying the martial law proclamation after it was lifted, deleting encrypted phone records belonging to military commanders who participated in the martial law operation — including former Defense Counterintelligence Command chief Yeo In-hyeong — and spreading false information about the martial law declaration to foreign media.

The first-instance court sentenced Yoon to five years in prison in January. The appellate court increased the sentence to seven years after finding him guilty on counts the lower court had acquitted him of. The appeals court ruled that two Cabinet ministers who received meeting notices at a point when they could not attend had also been denied their right to deliberate — going further than the lower court, which recognized the violation only for the seven ministers who received no notice at all. The appeals court also found him guilty of disseminating false information to foreign media, overturning the lower court's acquittal on that count. The special prosecutor's team led by Cho Eun-seok sought a 10-year sentence at both the first and second trials.

The upcoming ruling will be the Supreme Court's first judgment on Yoon in connection with the Dec. 3 emergency martial law declaration. He currently faces eight separate criminal trials: the insurrection leadership case, the arrest warrant obstruction case, the general treason case, the perjury case, the case involving alleged pressure to suppress the investigation into the death of Marine Cpl. Chae Sang-byeong, the case involving former Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup on charges of aiding a fugitive, the case related to the Myung Tae-gyun political influence scandal, and the case involving alleged false statements during the 20th presidential election.