South Korean court ordered the release of Yoon Suk Yeol, the country's impeachment president, on Friday, a trial of the uprising charges that he imposed a martial law ruling in December.
The Seoul Central District Court ruled that prosecutors violated the rules of procedure and asked Mr Yoon to detain Mr Yoon for longer detention than legally allowed before the prosecution last month.
But Mr. Yin was not immediately released from the detention center south of Seoul, said one of his lawyers, Seok Dong-hyun. Suk said prosecutors had a week's ruling appeal to the ruling, during which Mr. Yin would be detained.
Mr Yoon was detained on January 15 and formally revolts were charged 11 days later due to his brief imposition of martial law in December. His lawyers have struggled since then to free him from prison and made an argument accepted by a panel of three judges on Friday: Prosecutors kept Mr. Yoon for longer than the law allowed.
The ruling is limited to the narrow dispute over whether the prosecutors correctly comply with all procedures when arresting and prosecuting Mr Yoon. It did not address the charges Mr Yoon faced in a criminal trial.
Mr Yoon declared martial law on December 3, accusing the opposition-controlled National Assembly of “paralying” his government. The congress voted against his martial law, forcing him to withdraw it in about six hours. But this has triggered the worst political crisis in South Korea in decades.
When protesters called for Mr Yoon's strike, the General Assembly blasted the imp to take office on December 14. The country's constitutional court is considering whether impeachment is legal and whether it should be formally removed from office. In addition, criminal investigators detained Mr. Yin on the uprising charges.
He is the first president in South Korea to face criminal charges while still in office.
The unprecedented nature of the case against Mr Yoon helped create many legal disputes between lawyers and prosecutors. One of them is how long it takes for prosecutors to detain Mr Yoon on January 15.
The court said in its Friday ruling that the warrant for prosecutors before prosecutors sued Mr Yoon on the evening of January 26 has expired. If the prosecutor fails to prosecute a criminal suspect before such warrant expires, the suspect must be released from custody.
The court said that if the dispute regarding such procedural matters has not been resolved at this time, the legitimacy of a future ruling against Mr Yoon could be challenged.
“Today's ruling looks confusing, but it doesn't change any fundamentality, except that President Yoon is likely to be on trial as a freeman right now,” said Sung Deuk Hahm, professor of political science at the Seoul Gingji University.
Mr Yoon's lawyers and his BJP welcomed the court's ruling on Thursday. They said Mr. Yoon should be allowed to defend himself in court as a free man. But the Democrats, the main opposition leader of Mr. Yuan, condemned the ruling, urging prosecutors to appeal.
If Mr Yoon is released from prison, his supporters will likely make them rally in downtown Seoul in recent weeks, calling his impeachment and arresting his political enemy for “fraud”.
Police said an elderly South Korean man was taken to the hospital after a fire broke out in downtown Seoul earlier on Friday. They provided no details about his motivation or condition, but said a flyer of support for Mr. Yoon was found around him.
