The special counsel team led by Cho Eun-suk investigating the insurrection has requested a 30-year prison sentence for former Defense Counterintelligence Command chief Yeo In-hyung and former Capital Defense Command chief Lee Jin-woo, who face charges of playing a key role in the insurrection. The team sought a 20-year sentence for former Special Warfare Command chief Kwak Jong-keun.
The special counsel team made the requests on the 24th during the final sentencing hearing on charges of playing a key role in the insurrection against Yeo and others, held before Criminal Division 26 of the Seoul Central District Court, presided over by Chief Judge Lee Hyun-kyung.
The team also asked the court to sentence former Army Chief of Staff Park An-su, who was indicted together, to 25 years in prison, and former Defense Intelligence Command chief Moon Sang-ho to 20 years.
"They actively participated in the plotting and preparation to share the fruits of an insurrection carried out through emergency martial law," the special counsel team said. "The culpability is very grave, as key military commanders who should prevent war and protect the lives and safety of the people actively plotted a wartime martial law that even risked war."
They were sent to trial on charges including deploying troops to the National Assembly and the National Election Commission and ordering the arrest of politicians after former President Yoon Suk-yeol declared emergency martial law on December 3 the year before last. The trial had proceeded in a military court, but after the defendants including Yeo were dismissed from the Ministry of National Defense, the case was transferred to the Seoul Central District Court at the special counsel team's request.
