Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol sentenced to life behind bars.
A court found the 65-year-old guilty of abuse of authority and orchestrating an insurrection tied to his failed attempt to impose martial law in December 2024.
The three-judge panel concluded Yoon subverted the constitution by deploying troops to the National Assembly to halt parliamentary activity.
Yoon denied the charges, claiming he was acting within his presidential authority, accusing the opposition, which controls parliament, of being sympathetic to communists and North Korea.
The then-leader of the opposition, now current president of South Korea Lee Jae Myung, and his party, along with five opposition parties, submitted a motion to impeach Yoon.
Seven other defendants were sentenced alongside Yoon, including his defence minister and top police officials.
Yoon’s lawyers said they will discuss whether to appeal.
“Watching what appears to be a collapse of the rule of law today, I’m compelled to question whether we should proceed with an appeal or continue to participate in these criminal proceedings at all,” said his lawyer, Yoon Kab Keun.
Outside the courtroom, hundreds of his supporters rallied, holding “Yoon Again” banners and chanted his name.
“Given how much the rule of law has eroded in the Republic of Korea, we had hoped for an acquittal,” said Jeon One, a supporter of former South Korean President. “But we see today’s result as a challenge our country now has to work through.”
Yoon is expected to remain at the Seoul detention centre.
The possibility of a pardon for Yoon in the coming years remains a possibility as former South Korean presidents have been pardoned over the last three decades.
Four had received lengthy prison sentences but all of them were eventually pardoned after between one and four years.
