Seoul, Jan 19 (AHN) Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's legal team on Monday submitted an appeal against a court ruling that sentenced him to five years in prison on charges that included the obstruction of investigators' attempt to detain him last year.

Last Friday, the Seoul Central District Court handed down the sentence in the first ruling on charges stemming from Yoon's short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024.

Chief among the charges was that the then president had ordered the Presidential Security Service to block investigators from executing a warrant to detain him at the official presidential residence in January last year

Immediately after the ruling, Yoon's lawyers said they would appeal, claiming the court's decision was 'unacceptable' and not based on facts found during the investigation, Yonhap news agency reported.

Earlier on January 17, legal representatives for former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol had accused a Seoul court of being politically motivated in its sentencing of their client the previous day.

In particular, Yoon was charged with ordering the Presidential Security Service to block investigators from executing a warrant to detain him at the presidential residence in January 2025.

Yoon's legal team had released a statement saying the court's ruling was "purely based on political reasoning," while also lamenting the "disappearance of legal principles and collapse of constitutionalism."

Yoon's lawyers had repeated many of the same claims that they had made during the trial, arguing, for instance, that investigators had unlawfully entered a place that had not been specified in the detention warrant for Yoon.

The legal team had said the Seoul Central District Court did not meet the criteria for impartiality by rejecting these claims.

Special prosecutors had demanded the death penalty for Yoon over the insurrection charge earlier this week. The court is set to rule on the case on February 19.