Seoul: Former President Yoon Suk Yeol is poised to receive a court ruling on charges connected to his alleged obstruction of investigators' efforts to detain him last year. This verdict marks the first in a series of cases linked to his 2024 martial law declaration.

According to Yonhap News Agency, special counsel Cho Eun-suk's team has sought a 10-year prison sentence for Yoon on charges of obstruction of justice and other related offenses. The prosecution argues that Yoon committed a serious crime by misusing state institutions to conceal and justify his actions. The ruling is scheduled to be delivered at the Seoul Central District Court at 2 p.m., with the session being broadcast live following the court's approval of a request from broadcasters.

Yoon faces allegations of instructing the Presidential Security Service to prevent investigators from executing a detention warrant against him in January last year. He is also accused of violating the rights of nine Cabinet members by excluding them from a meeting to review his martial law plan, as well as drafting and subsequently destroying a revised proclamation after the martial law decree was lifted.

Further charges against the former president include ordering the release of press statements containing inaccuracies regarding the declaration and the deletion of records from secure phones used by military commanders at the time. The special counsel team has specified prison terms for each charge: five years for obstructing detention, three years for violating Cabinet members' rights, distributing false information, and destroying phone records, and two years for falsifying an official document.

The court's decision on Yoon's alleged obstruction of investigators and the procedural validity of the martial law declaration is anticipated to influence next month's verdict on charges that Yoon led an insurrection via his brief decree. Earlier this week, special prosecutors demanded the death penalty for Yoon concerning the insurrection charge, with the court's ruling expected on February 19.

Yoon is currently facing a total of eight trials related to the martial law attempt, his wife's alleged corruption, and the 2023 death of a Marine. This trial will be the third instance of a former president's trial being broadcast live, following the televised sentencing hearings of former Presidents Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak in 2018 during their respective corruption trials.