Prosecutors have appealed a court ruling that handed a suspended prison term to former President Chun Doo-hwan in a high-profile defamation case. 

Prosecutors filed the appeal on Thursday claiming that the verdict was tantamount to a slap on the wrist. Three days ago, the Gwangju District Court sentenced the 89-year-old ex-president to eight months behind bars, suspended for two years. 

Chun was convicted of slandering a late Catholic priest, whom he called a "liar" and "Satan," after the court acknowledged the credibility of the priest’s witness accounts that civilians were fired upon by soldiers in helicopters during the bloody crackdown of the 1980 Gwangju pro-democracy uprising.

The prosecution also found fault with the court’s judgment that Chun’s denial only refers to helicopter shootings on May 21, 1980, which the priest witnessed, but not shootings on May 27, 1980, which the court also acknowledged happened despite the ex-president’s denial. 

Chun’s lawyer said his client will also appeal the court decision. Chun has denied the charges for which the prosecution has demanded an 18-month prison sentence. 

A defamation case involving a dead person is punishable by up to two years in prison or five million won in fines.