South Korean President Yoon is indicted

South Korea’s impeached and jailed president, Yoon Suk Yeol, was formally indicted on Sunday on charges of leading a rebellion last month while he briefly imposed martial law.

Mr. Yoon’s indictment means his trial could begin soon. They follow accusations by a former defense minister, a military general and several police chiefs, who all face criminal charges of helping Mr. Yoon commit similar crimes.

He is the first president in South Korea’s history to face criminal charges while in office.

His downfall began when he unexpectedly declared martial law on December 3, accusing the opposition-controlled National Assembly of “crippling” his government. The House rejected the measure, forcing him to rescind the order after about six hours. But it has sparked South Korea’s worst political crisis in decades.

As people demanded Mr. Yoon’s ouster, the House impeached him on December 14, suspending him from office. The country’s Constitutional Court is considering whether the parliamentary impeachment is legal and whether he should be formally removed from office. Separated from the criminal investigators who detained Mr. Yoon on charges of sedition on January 15.

In his prison, Mr. Yoon will fight to regain his position.

A majority of South Koreans approve of his prosecution and consider him guilty of treason, according to a poll. But Mr. Yoon’s staunch supporters called his conviction a “fraud.” Some of them shocked the nation when they vandalized a courthouse in Seoul after a judge approved an arrest warrant for him on January 19. Nearly 60 people were arrested for this riot.

Prosecutors said Mr. Yoon staged a rebellion during the brief period when the marriage law was implemented, when, they said, he banned all political activity and ordered military commanders to break down the doors of the House “with “the axe” or “by shooting, if necessary” and “Come” the legislators. They said Mr. Yoon had sent the military there to arrest the Assembly and detain political leaders.

The nation watched video footage of special forces armed with heavy weapons storming the National Assembly as lawmakers gathered to vote against martial law. But Mr. Yoon denied the accusations of sedition, saying he never intended to discredit Parliament or arrest political leaders. The soldiers were there to “maintain security”, he said.

The accusations against Mr. Yoon, while not surprising, came sooner than expected.

The public prosecutor’s office has already investigated the minister of national defense and the former general. The country’s Office of Corruption Investigation for Senior Officials has taken over Mr. Yoon’s conspiracy case, but under the law only prosecutors can prosecute him.

Mr. Yoon refused to cooperate with the investigation; he and his attorney insisted the four-year-old board had no right to investigate him.

The case against him was handed over to the public prosecutor on Thursday. The two had previously agreed that prosecutors had until early February to file charges against Yoon, and had planned to further investigate Mr. Yoon’s actions. Prosecutor Yoon.

But on Friday, a judge in a Seoul court ruled that Mr. Yoon must be charged quickly or released as the corruption investigation bureau launched an investigation.