The People Power Party has fiercely criticized the court’s decision to delay President Lee Jae-myung’s retrial in an election law violation case.

In a social media post on Monday, former party leader Han Dong-hoon said the decision undermines judicial independence and will go down as a dark stain on South Korea’s legal history.

He argued that presidential immunity under Article 84 of the Constitution does not apply to criminal trials already underway before a president takes office.

Lawmaker Na Kyung-won also criticized the ruling online, saying the court has “bowed to Lee” in what she called a clear example of judicial submission to politics.

Rep. Jang Dong-hyuk echoed the criticism, claiming that with control of the legislature and the executive branch, and now a judiciary “subjugated under the banner of reform,” the Lee administration has extinguished true justice.