By Hyonhee Shin
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, a number of cupboard ministers, army commanders and police officers face legal investigations over the president’s botched try final week to impose martial regulation.
Prosecutors, the police and the Corruption Investigation Workplace for Excessive-ranking Officers have all launched probes into Yoon and the officers, searching for to pursue expenses of rebel and abuse of energy, amongst others.
Here’s what we all know in regards to the investigations up to now:
WHO IS UNDER INVESTIGATION?
Apart from Yoon, his former defence minister Kim Yong-hyun, former inside minister Lee Sang-min and military chief Park An-su, who was named martial regulation commander, face investigations.
Others concerned within the case embody the chiefs of the Capital Defence Command, the military’s Particular Warfare Command and the Defence Counterintelligence Command, in addition to a number of different army generals and senior police officers, together with the nationwide and Seoul police chiefs, who’re accused of taking part in a task within the martial regulation plan.
The primary opposition Democratic Celebration mentioned on Monday that it has additionally filed a criticism in opposition to Prime Minister Han Duck-soo to be included within the investigations for failing to dam Yoon’s try at martial regulation.
Yoon, Kim, Lee, the nationwide and Seoul police chiefs and 10 army commanders have been banned from leaving the nation.
Prosecutors summoned Kim for questioning for a 3rd time on Monday since arresting him a day earlier than, and carried out raids of the Defence Counterintelligence Command’s headquarters and places of work nationwide, in keeping with the Yonhap information company.
Police additionally raided the defence ministry and the Capital Defence Command on Thursday, searching for to grab Kim’s safe telephones and associated supplies, Yonhap mentioned.
WHO LEADS INVESTIGATIONS?
The Supreme Prosecutors’ Workplace has created a particular investigation bureau to look at the case for the primary time because it probed a 2016 corruption scandal engulfing then-President Park Geun-hye, who was impeached and ultimately ousted.
It consists of some 50 prosecutors and investigators, and a couple of dozen army prosecutors have additionally been drafted in, Yonhap mentioned.
The chief of investigations for the nationwide police company additionally confirmed the launch of its investigation at a parliamentary listening to on Thursday, and Yonhap mentioned its crew would come with some 150 officers and investigators.
The Corruption Investigation Workplace for Excessive-ranking Officers (CIO) mentioned it had individually opened an investigation after receiving complaints about nationwide police chief Cho Ji-ho and different senior police officers.
Amid rising considerations about indicators of rivalry amongst probing companies and requires concerted efforts to stop overlaps and increase effectiveness, a joint investigation crew was launched on Wednesday between police, the CIO and the defence ministry.
CIO head Oh Dong-woon mentioned on Wednesday that talks with prosecutors have been underneath method on methods to combine their work however any fast conclusion appeared unlikely.
The parliament handed payments this week for the appointment of particular counsels to spearhead a collective investigation with help from different companies.
WHAT CHARGES ARE SOUGHT?
The officers face potential expenses of rebel, abuse of authority and obstructing different folks from exercising their rights.
If convicted, the crime of main an rebel is punishable by demise or life imprisonment, with or with out jail labour. For many who participated in an rebel plot or engaged in different important actions punishment may vary from demise to life imprisonment all the way down to imprisonment with out jail labour for at the least 5 years. Individuals who merely joined within the plot or violence face imprisonment, with or with out jail labour, for lower than 5 years.
Abuse of authority brings penalties of imprisonment for lower than 5 years or fines of as much as 10 million received ($7,000), whereas obstructing different folks’s rights is punishable by a jail time period of lower than 5 years or fines of as much as 7 million received.
South Korea final handed down a demise sentence in 2016, however has not executed anybody since 1997.
