A South Korean court on Friday cancelled the arrest warrant for impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, allowing his release from detention, his legal team confirmed.
The Seoul Central District Court ruled that Yoon’s detention was unlawful, stating that prosecutors had failed to indict him within the legal timeframe.
“It is reasonable to conclude that the indictment was filed after the defendant’s detention period had expired,” the court said in its decision.
It added that cancelling the detention was necessary to ensure procedural clarity and uphold the legality of the investigation.
Despite the ruling, Yoon remains behind bars as prosecutors plan to appeal the court’s decision.
Yoon, a former prosecutor, sparked a national crisis in December when he declared martial law, briefly suspending civilian governance and deploying soldiers to South Korea’s parliament.
Lawmakers swiftly voted to overturn his declaration and subsequently impeached him.
The 64-year-old president was charged with insurrection for his actions. He initially resisted arrest for two weeks, barricading himself inside his official residence in Seoul with his security team before being taken into custody on 15 January.
Yoon’s future now rests with the Constitutional Court, which will decide whether to uphold his impeachment and permanently remove him from office.
Outside the Seoul Detention Centre in Uiwang, hundreds of Yoon’s supporters gathered, holding placards demanding his immediate release and condemning what they called an “illegal detention.”
