Cho Eun-suk special counsel team asked the Supreme Court to broadcast live the sentencing hearing in the final appeal on July 9 for former President Yoon Suk-yeol, who is charged with obstructing an arrest and other offenses.
The insurrection special counsel said on the 3rd that it applied to the Supreme Court's third division (presiding Justice Lee Suk-yeon) to live-broadcast the final appeal sentencing hearing for the former president on charges including obstruction of special official duties and abuse of power to obstruct the exercise of rights. If the Supreme Court grants the request, it would be the first broadcast of a ruling by a Supreme Court petty bench.
The Supreme Court's third division is scheduled to hand down the final appeal ruling for the former president at 2 p.m. on the 9th. It will be the first final appeal decision on the former president, coming 583 days after the Dec. 3 martial law crisis.
The former president was indicted and detained last July by the Cho Eun-suk special counsel team on charges of mobilizing Presidential Security Service staff in January last year to block the execution of an arrest warrant by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO).
There are also charges of infringing the martial law deliberation rights of nine cabinet members who could not attend the meeting by convening only some ministers to create the appearance of a Cabinet meeting at the time martial law was declared.
After martial law was lifted, there were also charges of creating a false proclamation to make it appear that martial law had been carried out under a document countersigned (signed) by former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and former Minister of the Ministry of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun, and then discarding it.
Earlier, the Seoul High Court's Criminal Division 1 (chief judge Yoon Sung-sik), which exclusively handles insurrection cases, sentenced the former president to seven years in prison in April on the charges. The first trial sentenced him to five years in prison. The special counsel sought 10 years.