CIO fails for third time to forcibly summon Yoon for questioning

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CIO fails for third time to forcibly summon Yoon for questioning

Oh Dong-woon, chief of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), speaks to reporters as he arrives for work in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi, on Jan. 22. [NEWS1]

Oh Dong-woon, chief of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), speaks to reporters as he arrives for work in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi, on Jan. 22. [NEWS1]

The state anticorruption watchdog leading the joint investigation into impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol failed for a third time on Wednesday to forcibly summon him for questioning.
 
Investigators from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) arrived around 10:20 a.m. at the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi, where Yoon is being held, to haul him in for questioning regarding his short-lived imposition of martial law on Dec. 3.
 
However, CIO investigators left empty-handed in the afternoon after Yoon refused to submit to questioning either inside the detention facility or at the CIO’s headquarters in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi.
 
The agency also attempted on Wednesday to raid Yoon’s office and residence but was forced to abandon both efforts in the afternoon after being denied entry by presidential officials.
 
Under Articles 110 and 111 of the Criminal Act, law enforcement cannot raid sites that deal with military or official secrets without the consent of the authority in charge.
 

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Yoon has refused to appear for almost all interrogations scheduled by the CIO except for the one that took place on Jan. 15, when he remained silent for almost 11 hours after being detained by the agency at his official residence.
 
The CIO believes it has the right to compel Yoon to submit to interrogation under a 2013 Supreme Court ruling that authorized a forced summons for a suspect who refused to appear for questioning after being detained, though both of the agency’s previous attempts to forcibly question Yoon failed due to his non-compliance.
 
Investigators sent to the Seoul Detention Center on Monday withdrew after a six-hour standoff with Yoon’s lawyers, while another CIO team that went to the detention facility on Tuesday was unable to question him because he went to a military hospital in central Seoul after his impeachment trial hearing at the Constitutional Court the same day.
 
He did not return to the detention facility until after 9 p.m., the cut-off time for interrogations under human rights regulations.
 
Police officials patrol the gate of the Seoul Detention Facility in Uiwang, Gyeonggi, on Jan. 22. [YONHAP]

Police officials patrol the gate of the Seoul Detention Facility in Uiwang, Gyeonggi, on Jan. 22. [YONHAP]

In a statement released on Wednesday, Yoon’s legal defense team denounced the CIO for attempting to serve him a forced summons for questioning and restricting his access to outside visitors except for his lawyers.
 
They argued that “a forced summons to a suspect who is exercising his right to remain silent is an infringement of his constitutional rights.”
 
His lawyers also argued that the CIO’s attempts to question Yoon are interfering with his right to defend himself during his impeachment trial.
 
In his remarks to reporters, Oh said the agency is investigating Yoon within legal bounds and urged him to submit to questioning in line with the arrest warrant issued on Sunday by the Seoul Western District Court.
 
The CIO chief also said that the agency could transfer Yoon’s case to the state prosecution service before Jan. 28.
 
Only the state prosecution service has the right to indict criminal suspects.
 
The formal arrest warrant authorizes the CIO to keep the president in custody for 10 days. That period can be extended by 10 days with the court’s approval.
 
Though the agency and the state prosecution service initially agreed to evenly split custody of Yoon during the total 20-day detention period, prosecutors recently requested the CIO transfer the case earlier in case the court refuses to extend the president’s detention period, according to local media reports.

BY MICHAEL LEE [[email protected]]
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