Prosecution to decide next week whether to release jailed ex-President Lee

All News 13:23 June 21, 2022

SEOUL, June 21 (Yonhap) -- A district prosecutors office will make a decision next week on whether to grant jailed former President Lee Myung-bak's request to suspend his 17-year prison term handed down for corruption, sources said Tuesday.

The Suwon District Prosecutors Office will hold a deliberation committee meeting next Tuesday to determine whether to release Lee from the Anyang Correctional Institution, according to the judicial source.

Lee, 81, filed the petition earlier this month, citing health issues.

Lee, who was president from 2008 to 2013, has been serving the sentence since the Supreme Court finalized the 17-year prison term in October 2020.

Lee has been in and out of the hospital during his imprisonment for chronic diseases, including diabetes.

Lee was first imprisoned in March 2018 during the prosecution investigation, before being released on bail in March 2019.

Lee then was re-incarcerated in February 2020 following a higher court's ruling but was released again six days later, after he challenged the cancellation and the court decided to suspend the execution of the prison sentence until the highest court's ruling on the appeal was made.

Lee was excluded from the presidential pardons by former President Moon Jae-in, under which jailed ex-President Park Geun-hye was set free.