"Ringleader of insurrection" Yoon appeals life sentence at first instance... "I will never remain silent"

According to Financial News, Yoon Suk Yeol, who was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of being the ringleader of an insurrection in connection with the December 3 Martial Law, has appealed the first-instance ruling.
His defense team stated that on the 24th they submitted a notice of appeal to Criminal Division 25 of the Seoul Central District Court. The filing came six days after Yoon was sentenced to life imprisonment.
The lawyers explained their reasons for appeal, saying, "We believe we have a responsibility to clearly record the problems with this decision, not only in the court record but also in the judgment of history," adding, "Under that responsibility, we intend to expose the errors in fact-finding and the misinterpretation of the law contained in the first-instance judgment."
They went on to say, "We will never remain silent about the special prosecutor’s overreaching indictment, the contradictory reasoning of the first-instance judgment built on that premise, and its political backdrop."
Earlier, on the 19th, the court sentenced former President Yoon to life imprisonment on charges of being the ringleader of an insurrection. The bench stated, "It is difficult to deny that former President Yoon harbored the intent to send troops to the National Assembly to seal it off and to arrest key politicians, thereby obstructing and paralyzing parliamentary activity so that the National Assembly could not function properly for a considerable period," and added, "It is also recognized as fact that he sent in the military and sparked an uprising."
Attention is also focused on whether the Special Prosecutor Team for Insurrection and Treason, led by Special Prosecutor Cho Eun-seok, will file its own appeal. The team held a meeting the previous day to decide whether to appeal. Having sought the death penalty but with the court imposing life imprisonment, the likelihood of an appeal by the special prosecutor team is considered high. Because the court pointed to the sloppy preparation of the December 3 Martial Law and refused to admit the notebook of former Commander of the Defense Intelligence Command Roh Sang-won as evidence, the special prosecutor team is expected to challenge these points on appeal.
Prosecutors allege that former President Yoon conspired with former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun and others to declare an unconstitutional and unlawful state of martial law, even though the legal requirements for martial law were not met, and that he instigated an uprising with the aim of undermining the constitutional order.
He is also accused of mobilizing the military and police to seal off the National Assembly in order to block a vote to lift martial law, and of seeking to arrest and detain key figures such as Speaker of the National Assembly Woo Won-shik, then Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) leader Lee Jae-myung, former People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon, as well as staff members of the National Election Commission of the Republic of Korea (NEC).
theknight@fnnews.com Reporter Jeong Kyung-soo Reporter