Seoul, Jan 9 (EFE).- Lawyers for embattled South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol announced Thursday that they have filed for an injunction of the arrest warrant issued for their client, the validity of which was extended this week by a Seoul court.
The president’s lawyers said at a press conference that the injunction has been requested before the Constitutional Court along with a request to clarify jurisdictional powers.
Yoon’s legal team has been arguing that both the Office for the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), which obtained the warrant, and the court that granted it and later extended it, do not have the authority to handle the crime of insurrection of which they accuse the president by virtue of his declaration of martial law on Dec. 3.
Lawyer Yun Gap-geun said that both the judge who issued the order and then extended it and the judge who dismissed the first request for annulment «not only made wrong legal interpretations but are making wrong legal applications.»
«There are inferences and exaggerated interpretations of the law that make it highly likely to be illegal,” he added.
Both the president and his conservative ruling People Power Party believe, as does Yoon’s legal team, that the anti-corruption office, an agency created by the previous liberal government to reduce the powers of the Attorney General’s Office, has no authority in this case.
Representatives of the CIO and police tried unsuccessfully last Friday to arrest Yoon, who was protected by the Presidential Security Service who blocked the entrance to his residence.
The CIO and police are expected to carry out a second operation to try to arrest the president in the coming days.
For this reason, hundreds of Yoon supporters gathered again Thursday near the presidential residence to protest the arrest plan.
«President Yoon is healthy in appearance and is worrying that his intended aim in declaring martial law will not be achieved,» added lawyer Yun.
When asked about the goal the president is pursuing, his lawyer said that Yoon «believes the martial law imposition is playing a role in creating the mood for our people to rise to their feet.»
The president declared a state of emergency on Dec. 3, arguing that the opposition, which controls parliament, was acting as a pro-North Korean anti-state entity.
Regarding the possibility of Yoon attending the first formal hearing of his impeachment trial before the Constitutional Court, which must decide before June whether his parliamentary dismissal decreed on Dec. 14 is final or not, the lawyers said that nothing has been decided yet in this regard because there are currently other priorities.
If they manage to arrest Yoon, the investigators have 48 hours to question him and even request an order to prolong his detention if they deem it necessary. EFE
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