Yoon's Side Claims "Presidential Detention Period Over... Must Release"

"Detention Period Expires at Midnight on January 25"
If Calculated by Hours Instead of Days, It Has Already Ended

The office of President Yoon Seok-yeol argued on the 26th that the detention period following the arrest warrant for President Yoon expires at midnight on the 25th, stating, "Since the detention period has already been exceeded, he must be released immediately." This contradicts the prosecution's position that the detention period extends until the 27th.

President Yoon Suk-yeol is reviewing documents after attending the 4th impeachment trial hearing held at the Constitutional Court in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 23rd. 2025.1.23 Photo by Joint Press Corps

The defense team stated on the same day, "The provisions of the Criminal Procedure Act regarding the substantive review of warrants and the deduction of detention periods for detention appropriateness reviews should be interpreted in favor of the suspect," adding, "If the deducted period is calculated in 'hours' rather than 'days,' the detention period ends at midnight on January 25."

The Criminal Procedure Act stipulates that the period from when the court receives investigation-related documents and evidence for detention appropriateness reviews or substantive warrant reviews until the decision is made and the materials are returned to the prosecution office is not counted as part of the detention period.

Both the prosecution and the court have so far calculated the time spent on detention appropriateness reviews or substantive warrant reviews in units of days rather than hours and deducted this from the detention period. However, President Yoon's side argues that this period should be calculated in hours, not days.

The defense team emphasized, "Since the total time spent on substantive warrant reviews and detention appropriateness reviews does not reach 48 hours, only one day should be deducted," and added, "Issues concerning the suspect's personal detention should be handled conservatively, and in cases of doubt, interpreted in favor of the suspect."

The defense team also argued, "Since the 2007 amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act made pre-detention suspect hearings mandatory, excluding the time spent on hearings from the detention period may be unconstitutional." They further added, "The general academic consensus is that to effectively guarantee the substantive warrant review system, it is necessary to delete the (detention period deduction) provision."

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