A Seoul court has handed down a five-year prison term for former President Yoon Suk Yeol for obstructing his arrest last year.

The Seoul Central District Court on Friday announced the ruling, televised live, revealing the first verdict in multiple trials related to his 2024 declaration of martial law.

Special counsel Cho Eun-suk’s team had earlier sought a 10-year prison term for Yoon on obstruction of justice and other charges, saying the former president committed a “grave crime” by “privatizing” state institutions with the aim of concealing and justifying his criminal acts.

Yoon was found guilty of ordering the Presidential Security Service to block the execution of a warrant to detain him in January last year, and of drafting and later destroying a revised proclamation after the martial law decree was lifted.

Yoon’s legal representatives later told reporters that they plan to file an appeal.