A Seoul appellate court on Wednesday released imprisoned dissident Song Doo-yool on a probationary basis, overturning a 7-year jail term handed down by a lower court. In reducing Song's sentence to a 3-year suspended term with a 5-year probationary period, the court said that there was no evidence of the Korean-German professor having been a member of the North Korean Workers' Party politburo. The appellate court also cited Song's contributions to inter-Korean exchanges and remorse for his past deeds in lowering the 59-year-old professor's previous sentence, adding that in this post-Cold War era, any judgement over his past acts should be left to public discussion. Song, a sociology professor at Germany's Muenster University, was sentenced to 7 years behind bars in March for violating the National Security Law on charges that he served as a secret member of the North Korean politburo. The dissident, who had been living in self-imposed exile in Germany for the past 35 years, returned to the South in September last year, and was soon placed under custody for his alleged pro-North activities.