Seoul, Feb 6 (IANS) The South Korean national police chief and the former Seoul police chief accused of involvement in President Yoon Suk Yeol’s failed martial law bid denied charges of playing a key role in an insurrection during their first pretrial hearing on Thursday.
Cho Ji-ho, commissioner general of the National Police Agency, and Kim Bong-sik, former chief of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, were indicted with physical detention last month on charges of mobilising police forces to close off the National Assembly and organising the arrest of key politicians during the brief imposition of martial law on December 3.
Cho has since been released on bail to undergo treatment for blood cancer, reports Yonhap news agency.
“As the national police chief, (Cho) carried out public order maintenance activities that are naturally required under conditions of martial law, but he is being misunderstood for assisting the operations of martial law troops,” his attorney said during the preparatory hearing at the Seoul Central District Court.
“In fact, he stopped the materialisation of a crime so that martial law could not succeed,” he added.
Kim’s lawyer also denied the insurrection charge.
The court said a second preparatory hearing will be held on February 27.
Meanwhile, the first preparatory hearing for the trial of Noh Sang-won, former commander of the Defence Intelligence Command, is scheduled to be held at the same court later in the day.
Noh is accused of planning martial law operations and ordering intelligence officers to take over the National Election Commission’s headquarters.
Also at the court Thursday, a second preparatory hearing will be held for former Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun over his role in the martial law bid.
A preparatory hearing involves clarifying the main disputes of a case and planning for future proceedings and does not require a defendant’s attendance.
–IANS
int/jk/sd
Disclaimer
The information contained in this website is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by TodayIndia.news and while we endeavour to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.
In no event will we be liable for any loss or damage including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or profits arising out of, or in connection with, the use of this website.
Through this website you are able to link to other websites which are not under the control of TodayIndia.news We have no control over the nature, content and availability of those sites. The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.
Every effort is made to keep the website up and running smoothly. However, TodayIndia.news takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, the website being temporarily unavailable due to technical issues beyond our control.
For any legal details or query please visit original source link given with news or click on Go to Source.
Our translation service aims to offer the most accurate translation possible and we rarely experience any issues with news post. However, as the translation is carried out by third part tool there is a possibility for error to cause the occasional inaccuracy. We therefore require you to accept this disclaimer before confirming any translation news with us.
If you are not willing to accept this disclaimer then we recommend reading news post in its original language.
