Lawyers for the detained South Korean president announced he will refuse further questioning, claiming the investigation is illegal.
He just went through over 10 hours of questioning, but he decided to stay silent. This all happened after a big operation to detain him at his official residence. Now, investigators are gearing up to possibly arrest him soon.
The anti-corruption agency is looking into whether his declaration of martial law was an attempted rebellion. They’ve got 48 hours to either get a court order for his arrest or let him go. Yoon’s lawyers are pushing back, saying the warrant for his detention isn’t valid and are asking the court to release him.
While the court reviews this, the clock is paused on the arrest warrant. There’s a chance Yoon might even attend a hearing at the Central District Court. The hearing was set for Thursday evening, so we might hear something soon.
This whole mess started when Yoon declared martial law to break a legislative deadlock back in December. It caused a huge political crisis, and lawmakers quickly voted to lift it. He was impeached shortly after, accused of rebellion, and now it’s up to the Constitutional Court to decide his fate.
Yoon has been dodging investigators for weeks, staying at his residence to avoid being detained. His lawyers have been turning away police, claiming they can’t search without his consent. They also argue that the anti-corruption agency doesn’t have the authority to investigate rebellion claims.
Things got tense when the presidential security service blocked an attempt to detain him. Eventually, he was taken into custody after a lengthy raid by investigators and police.
Before he was taken in, Yoon recorded a video saying the “rule of law has completely collapsed” in South Korea. He’s echoing his lawyers’ claims about the investigation’s legitimacy but accepted detention to avoid violence.
The Constitutional Court didn’t grant a delay for a hearing on his case, but he might still attend while detained. If a court approves a warrant for his arrest, investigators could hold him for up to 20 days before passing the case to prosecutors.
If he gets indicted for rebellion or abuse of power, he could be stuck in jail until the first court ruling, which usually takes about six months. And if convicted, he could face some serious penalties, including life in prison or even the death penalty.
