SEOUL: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol walked out of a detention center on Saturday after prosecutors decided not to appeal a court decision to cancel the impeached leader’s arrest warrant on insurrection charges.
Yoon, 64, remains suspended from his duties, and his criminal and impeachment trials continue over his short-lived imposition of martial law on December 3.
The Seoul Central District Court canceled Yoon’s arrest warrant on Friday, citing the timing of his indictment and questions about the legality of the investigation process.
“I would like to thank the Central District Court for their courage and determination in correcting the illegality,” Yoon said in a statement.
As he left the facility, a relaxed and smiling Yoon, in a dark suit with no necktie, stepped out of his car, waved, raised his fist and bowed to cheering supporters waving South Korean and US flags.
His lawyers said the court decision “confirmed that the president’s detainment was problematic in both procedural and substantive aspects,” calling the ruling the “beginning of a journey to restore rule of law.”
Prosecutors could not immediately be reached for comment.
The main opposition Democratic Party criticized the prosecutors’ decision for “throwing the country and people into crisis,” and urged the Constitutional Court to remove Yoon from office as soon as possible.
In his impeachment trial, the Constitutional Court is expected to decide in coming days whether to reinstate or remove Yoon.
On Saturday, some 55,000 Yoon supporters rallied in Seoul’s main districts, while 32,500 people demonstrated against him near the Constitutional Court, Yonhap news agency reported, citing unofficial police estimates.
The public, however remains largely anti-Yoon, with 60 percent of respondents saying he should be removed from office and 35 percent opposing removal, according to a Gallup Korea poll on Friday.
Before the prosecutors’ decision, hundreds of Yoon supporters also protested in front of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office.
“I was very sorry that he couldn’t come out quickly, and it was a hard time for me to wait, but it was very much worth the wait,” said Lee Heoung-ok, a 62-year-old supporter who waited for Yoon’s release at the detention center.
Shim Ye-rin, 27, said: “I saw him walking out on his own feet and greeting his supporters. It was a little bit ridiculous to me because it seemed like something that couldn’t happen in a democratic society, something that was outside of common sense.”
Yoon, the first South Korean president to be arrested while in office, has been held at the Seoul Detention Center, located in the city of Uiwang, 22 km (14 miles) south of Seoul, since January 15.
South Korea’s President Yoon free, trials continue after court quashes detention
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South Korea’s President Yoon free, trials continue after court quashes detention
- The Seoul Central District Court canceled Yoon’s arrest warrant on Friday
- “I would like to thank the Central District Court for their courage and determination in correcting the illegality,” Yoon said
Bangladesh begins exhuming mass grave from 2024 uprising
- The United Nations says up to 1,400 people were killed in crackdowns as Hasina attempted to cling to power — deaths that formed part of her conviction last month for crimes against humanity
DHAKA: Bangladeshi police began exhuming on Sunday a mass grave believed to contain around 114 unidentified victims of a mass uprising that toppled autocratic former prime minister Sheikh Hasina last year.
The UN-supported effort is being advised by Argentine forensic anthropologist Luis Fondebrider, who has led recovery and identification missions at mass graves worldwide for decades.
The bodies were buried at the Rayerbazar Graveyard in Dhaka by the volunteer group Anjuman Mufidul Islam, which said it handled 80 unclaimed bodies in July and another 34 in August 2024 — all people reported to have been killed during weeks of deadly protests.
The United Nations says up to 1,400 people were killed in crackdowns as Hasina attempted to cling to power — deaths that formed part of her conviction last month for crimes against humanity.
Criminal Investigation Department (CID) chief Md Sibgat Ullah said investigators believed the mass grave held roughly 114 bodies, but the exact number would only be known once exhumations were complete.
“We can only confirm once we dig the graves and exhume the bodies,” Ullah told reporters.
- ‘Searched for him’ -
Among those hoping for answers is Mohammed Nabil, who is searching for the remains of his brother Sohel Rana, 28, who vanished in July 2024.
“We searched for him everywhere,” Nabil told AFP.
He said his family first suspected Rana’s death after seeing a Facebook video, then recognized his clothing — a blue T-shirt and black trousers — in a photograph taken by burial volunteers.
Exhumed bodies will be given post-mortem examinations and DNA testing. The process is expected to take several weeks to complete.
“It’s been more than a year, so it won’t be possible to extract DNA from the soft tissues,” senior police officer Abu Taleb told AFP. “Working with bones would be more time-consuming.”
Forensic experts from four Dhaka medical colleges are part of the team, with Fondebrider brought in to offer support as part of an agreement with the UN rights body the OHCHR.
“The process is complex and unique,” Fondebrider told reporters. “We will guarantee that international standards will be followed.”
Fondebrider previously headed the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team, founded in 1984 to investigate the tens of thousands who disappeared during Argentina’s former military dictatorship.
Authorities say the exhumed bodies will be reburied in accordance with religious rites and their families’ wishes.
Hasina, convicted in absentia last month and sentenced to death, remains in self-imposed exile in India.
