By Reuters
SEOUL, Feb 21 (Reuters) - South Korean police are formally building a case against impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol over accusations he obstructed the execution of an arrest warrant, a police spokesperson said on Friday.
A South Korean court issued an arrest warrant for Yoon on December 31 in a criminal investigation accusing the suspended leader of insurrection over his martial law decree last year.
The warrant, however, was not executed until January 15 after Yoon did not comply and the Presidential Security Service blocked investigators for days.
Police have been investigating Yoon on suspicion of special obstruction of public duty since around January 3, a police spokesperson said by text message.
The crime is punishable by up to five years in jail, according to South Korean law.
Yoon has said that his short-lived declaration of martial law on December 3 did not constitute insurrection, one of only two charges a sitting president is not immune from.
Yoon's lawyers have also repeatedly argued that his arrest was politically motivated and that the warrant was invalid because of flaws in the way the investigation was conducted.
On Friday, one of his lawyers accused investigators of "warrant shopping", citing how they had sought search warrants and warrants to obtain communication records at several courts.
"With its...warrants rejected by the Seoul Central District Court, the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) submitted warrants to Seoul Western District Court," said lawyer Yoon Kab-keun.
The courts and the CIO, which led the investigation, could not immediately be reached for comment.
President Yoon's immunity from most criminal charges will end if he is ousted by the Constitutional Court, which is in the final phases of deliberating on his impeachment.
The Constitutional Court said on Thursday that the court will hear final statements from Yoon and parliament in the next hearing in Yoon's trial on whether to oust him or restore his presidential powers.
Analysts have forecast a ruling could be made in March.
(Reporting by Joyce Lee, Hyunsu Yim and Ju-min Park Editing by Ed Davies)
