(2nd LD) ex-president-trial

(ATTN: UPDATES with sentencing recommendations for other defendants; ADDS photo)

SEOUL, Oct. 29 (Yonhap) -- A special counsel team on Thursday sought the death penalty for former President Yoon Suk Yeol during his appeal trial on insurrection charges stemming from his failed attempt to impose martial law.

Special counsel Cho Eun-suk's team requested the sentence during proceedings at the Seoul High Court, eight months after a lower court sentenced Yoon to life imprisonment for staging a riot through his declaration of martial law on Dec. 3, 2024.

The team had recommended capital punishment during the first-instance trial as well.

"There is no reason to hesitate to hand down the death penalty," a member of the team said. "The strongest argument for objection to the death penalty is the possibility of a misjudgment just in case, but in this case, there is no room for that."

Yoon declared martial law with the stated aim of eradicating anti-state forces, though the order was lifted six hours later by a vote by the National Assembly.

During those six hours, troops were deployed to the National Assembly compound, which the lower court ruled in February was an attempt to paralyze parliament and arrest key politicians.

"The commander in chief who had sworn to abide by the Constitution instead sent troops armed with guns pointing at the people," the special counsel team member said.

"This was an unforgivable crime that destroyed the constitutional order and tried to turn back the clock of the Republic of Korea by 40 years."

Yoon, who is charged with being the ringleader of an insurrection, has maintained that his declaration of martial law was meant as a warning to the opposition-controlled parliament amid its successive impeachments of senior government officials and attempts to cut the state budget.

The special counsel team said the lower court's life sentence was too lenient and that the practice of not executing the death penalty should not be a reason to not hand it down.

Amnesty International has categorized South Korea as a death penalty abolitionist in practice, as the punishment has not been carried out since December 1997.

Under criminal law, the only three types of punishment possible for the ringleader of an insurrection are the death penalty, life imprisonment and life imprisonment without labor.

The special counsel team also countered each of the lower court's arguments for mitigating the sentence, saying, for instance, that the decree was not imposed spontaneously but after at least eight months of preparation, and that most ringleaders of an insurrection are first-time offenders.

"This was the highest level of treason that betrayed the people's trust," a team member said.

In its sentencing recommendations for other defendants, Cho's team sought life imprisonment for former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun on charges of playing a key role in an insurrection, 30 years in prison for retired Army Maj. Gen. Noh Sang-won, 20 years for former National Police Agency chief Cho Ji-ho and 15 years for former Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency chief Kim Bong-sik, among others.

The Seoul High Court plans to hold two additional hearings before setting a sentencing date. Yoon's final statement is scheduled to be delivered next Thursday.

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