A TOP South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to five years in prison today.

This was the first verdict from eight criminal trials over his failed attempt to impose martial law, which forced him out of office, alongside other allegations.

The right-wing former leader was impeached, arrested and dismissed as president after his short-lived military adventure in December 2024 triggered huge public protests calling for him to be ousted.

The most significant criminal charge against him alleges that his martial law announcement amounted to a rebellion — and the independent counsel has requested a death sentence in the case, which is to be decided in a ruling next month.

In today’s case, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Mr Yoon for defying attempts to detain him, fabricating the martial law proclamation and sidestepping a legally mandated full Cabinet meeting.

Mr Yoon has maintained he didn’t intend to place the country under military rule for an extended period, saying his decree was only meant to inform the people about the danger of a liberal-controlled parliament obstructing his agenda.

But investigators have viewed Mr Yoon’s decree as an attempt to bolster and prolong his rule, charging him with rebellion, abuse of power and other criminal offences.

Judge Baek Dae-hyun said in the televised ruling that imposing “a grave punishment” was necessary because Mr Yoon hasn’t shown remorse and has only repeated “hard-to-comprehend excuses.”

Mr Yoon, who can appeal the ruling, hasn’t immediately publicly responded to the ruling. But when the independent counsel demanded a 10-year prison term in the case, Mr Yoon’s defence team accused them of being politically driven and lacking legal grounds to demand such “an excessive” sentence.

Prison sentences in the multiple, smaller trials the former president faces would matter if he is spared the death penalty or life imprisonment at the rebellion trial.