Former Intelligence Commander Claims Innocence... "Arrest Process Was Illegal"

The defense team of former Intelligence Commanding General Moon Sang-ho, who was indicted on charges of engaging in important tasks related to the 12·3 emergency martial law incident and abuse of authority obstructing the exercise of rights, claimed his innocence. Additionally, the defense raised issues regarding the illegality of the arrest process.

Yonhap News

On the 4th, at the first pretrial hearing held at the Central Military Court in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Moon’s defense argued that there was no conspiracy with President Yoon Seok-yeol and others, and that he merely carried out orders as the commanding general. Moon did not appear at the pretrial hearing that day.

Moon’s attorney stated, “(Moon) was completely unaware of any conspiracy with the president or other commanding generals as alleged by the prosecution.” When the judge asked if he also denied conspiracy with civilians such as former Intelligence Commanding General Noh Sang-won, the attorney replied, “Yes.”

Furthermore, the defense claimed that attempts to block the National Assembly and seize the Election Commission building were also merely acts of carrying out orders.

The military prosecution responded, “Denial of conspiracy is a dispute over facts that will be proven through evidence,” adding, “Clearly illegal or unlawful orders from superiors cannot be considered official orders, so public officials have no duty to obey. We will present evidence to prove that the accused committed clearly illegal acts as charged.”

However, on this day, Moon’s defense raised issues regarding the arrest process on December 18 of last year. They argued that the prosecution ‘deceived’ Moon to arrest him illegally, and that subsequent procedures cannot be considered lawful.

The attorney claimed, “On December 18 last year, the defendant was staying in the on-base official residence, but the investigators knew they could not execute an arrest warrant within the military protected facility on base, so they lured (Moon) to the administrative information office to arrest him,” adding, “Documents related to the execution of the arrest warrant by the prosecution state that (Moon) happened to come out to the administrative information office and was arrested, which is a false official document.”

Regarding this, the prosecution stated, “The arrest was lawfully carried out based on a warrant issued by the court,” and added, “It is difficult to accept the claim that the arrest was illegal simply because he was made to come to the administrative information office.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.