The ousted president of South Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol, does not intend to participate in a second day of interrogation this Thursday (16), his lawyer said.
Yoon, the first South Korean president to be arrested, was taken to the Seoul Detention Center on Wednesday (15) after refusing to cooperate, where he was supposed to spend the night in a solitary cell.
Authorities have 48 hours to question the suspended president, after which they must release him or seek a warrant to detain him for up to 20 days.
Yoon’s refusal to cooperate with investigators comes as the Constitutional Court is expected to hold a second hearing in his impeachment trial to determine whether to permanently remove him or reinstate his presidential powers.
South Korea is grappling with its worst political crisis in decades, triggered by Yoon’s brief attempt to impose Martial Law on December 3, which was rejected by parliament.
Yoon’s arrest on Wednesday ended a weeks-long standoff with authorities after police raided his fortified hillside village in Seoul before dawn to the dismay of followers there.
Yoon said he turned himself in for questioning by corruption investigation officials to avoid what he called the risk of “nasty bloodshed,” although he continued to protest that it was an illegal investigation and an invalid arrest warrant.
Yoon refused to speak to investigators who prepared a more than 200-page questionnaire, an official at the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Level Officials (CIO) who is leading the criminal inquiry said on Wednesday.
The interrogation is expected to resume at 2pm on Thursday afternoon local time, according to the CIO.
Yoon Kab-keun, one of Yoon’s lawyers, said in a text message to reporters that the ousted president would not attend the interrogation.
Yonhap reported that the lawyer cited Yoon’s health as a factor and said further questioning was pointless, without elaborating.
The CIO official said he understood it was possible to forcibly take Yoon in for questioning, but would do more law checks.
Some protesters supporting Yoon gathered and sat on a road outside the CIO’s office, calling the president’s arrest illegitimate.
Lawyers for the ousted president said the arrest warrant was illegal because it was issued by a court in the wrong jurisdiction and the team created to investigate him had no legal mandate to do so.
They also asked another court to review the legality of the arrest.
The legal team has categorically denied allegations against Yoon of planning an insurrection, a crime in South Korea punishable by life in prison or even the death penalty.
Yoon’s 48-hour detention period has been temporarily paused while a judicial review is ongoing, according to the CIO.
Separately, after parliament approved Yoon’s impeachment on December 14 for his attempt to declare Martial Law, the Constitutional Court will now decide whether to uphold the impeachment.
Opinion polls show that the majority of South Koreans support Yoon’s impeachment, but attempts to arrest him appear to have rallied his hardline supporters.
The political crisis has reverberated across Asia’s fourth-largest economy and increased pressure on the won currency.
This content was originally published in President of South Korea will not appear for interrogation, says lawyer on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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