South Korean citizens watched the suspended president attend a public debate.
The suspended South Korean president has been in detention since being arrested on January 15th this year and officially imprisoned on the 19th, spending most of the time in a detention center in Seoul. On March 7th, he was released.
According to reports, the Seoul Central District Court approved a request to lift the detention on the 7th. The president, who was detained and indicted on suspicion of inciting a rebellion, was released.
Previously, on January 17th, the Agency for Investigation of Crimes of High - Ranking Public Officials applied to the Seoul Western District Court for a detention warrant for the arrested president, stating that he was suspected of "leading a rebellion and abusing power". Two days later, the Seoul Western District Court issued an arrest warrant, and the president was officially detained and continued to be investigated by the agency, but remained silent throughout the process. On January 23rd, the agency said that due to limited investigation capabilities, it transferred the case to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office. On January 26th, the prosecutors indicted the president on suspicion of "inciting a rebellion".
The president's lawyer applied to the Seoul Central District Court to lift the detention on February 4th, arguing that the case was indicted after the detention period expired on January 25th, which was an illegal detention, so the president should be released immediately. However, the prosecutors believed that the detention period was calculated by days and should expire on January 27th, and the indictment was made within the legal detention period.
The court heard the application to lift the detention on February 20th. According to Article 93 of the Criminal Procedure Law, if the reasons for detention no longer exist or have disappeared, the court shall, ex officio or upon the application of the prosecutor, the defendant, or the defense counsel, lift the detention. If the application to lift the detention is approved and the defendant is released, the prosecutor in charge of the case may appeal.
On March 7th, the 25th Criminal Panel of the Seoul Central District Court accepted the president's request to lift the detention, ruling that his continued detention was inappropriate. The court held that it should be recognized that the president was indicted after the detention period expired, and the calculation of the detention period should be based on actual time (hours and minutes), rather than the prosecutors' view of calculating by days.
Moreover, the court found that even if the president was indicted before the detention period expired, there were sufficient reasons to lift the detention. The agency's investigation authority does not cover the crime of rebellion, and the agency and the prosecution are independent investigation agencies. Without any legal basis, they jointly negotiated and allocated the detention period without fulfilling the necessary transfer procedures.
Next, the president will continue to be tried in a non - detention state, including the impeachment case and criminal cases involving the crime of rebellion. However, the ruling People Power Party and the largest opposition Democratic Party of Korea have completely different interpretations of the court's decision to lift the detention.
The People Power Party held a press conference on the 7th, stating that the court's decision showed that the rule of law still existed and that the agency's execution of the arrest warrant was wrong, and the agency must be held accountable. In addition, the People Power Party added: "It is expected that this decision of the court will be fully reflected in the impeachment trial process." The Democratic Party of Korea said that the different interpretations of the prosecution and the court regarding the calculation of the detention period had nothing to do with the reasons for impeachment.
The Constitutional Court of South Korea has held 11 public debates on the president's impeachment case. At the last debate on February 25th, the president made a final statement in court with a 77 - page manuscript. The judges will conduct deliberations and vote on the conclusion proposed by the presiding judge. The South Korean legal community predicts that referring to the previous impeachment trials of Presidents Roh Moo - hyun and Park Geun - hye, the Constitutional Court may render a verdict in mid - March, about two weeks after the end of the debates. It was reported that the conclusion of the impeachment case is likely to be announced next week.