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World|politics|April 17, 2017 / 04:00 PM
Ousted president of South Korea formally indicted

AKIPRESS.COM - South Korea’s recently impeached and ousted president, Park Geun-hye, was formally indicted on Monday, becoming the first leader put on criminal trial since the mid-1990s, when two former military-backed presidents were imprisoned for corruption and mutiny, NYT reported.

Prosecutors arrested Ms. Park on bribery and a dozen other criminal charges in March. They have questioned her five times in her jail cell outside Seoul.

Her indictment on Monday, a widely expected follow-up to her arrest, will prompt the Seoul Central District Court to open a trial. The court is expected to assign her case to a three-judge panel soon.

The judges will then set the date for the first hearing in what will become the biggest court trial since the former military dictator Chun Doo-hwan was sentenced to death and his friend and successor, Roh Tae-woo, was sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison on bribery, mutiny and sedition charges in 1996. (Their sentences were later reduced, and they were pardoned and released in 1997.)

Months of political turmoil and intrigue, set into motion when huge crowds began gathering in central Seoul in the fall to demand Ms. Park’s resignation, were capped by a Constitutional Court ruling in early March that formally removed her from office.

The National Assembly had voted in December to impeach her on charges of bribery, extortion and abuse of power.

The sprawling corruption scandal implicated the leadership of Samsung, the nation’s largest conglomerate, and other big businesses, rekindling public furor over decades-old ties between government and big businesses in one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies.

Ms. Park was accused of conspiring with a longtime confidante, Choi Soon-sil, to coerce big businesses to make donations worth tens of millions of dollars to two foundations controlled by Ms. Choi.

The two were also charged with collecting $38 million in bribes or promised bribes from Samsung. Ms. Choi and Samsung’s top executive, Lee Jae-yong, were also under arrest and on trial.

In a trial that began last month, Mr. Lee, the third-generation scion of the family that runs the conglomerate and the vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, has vehemently denied the bribery and other charges against him, saying that he sought no favor from Ms. Park’s government in return for the money Samsung admitted contributing to support Ms. Choi’s foundations and her daughter.

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