Former South Korean President Park Geun-hye, who is serving a 22-year prison sentence for abuse of power and bribery, will be released next year under an amnesty. This was reported on December 24 by the Ryonhap agency.
According to him, 69-year-old Park Geun-hye is included in the list of persons subject to amnesty on the occasion of the New Year holidays.
She was imprisoned for four years and nine months.
This will be the fifth pardon during the administration of the current president, journalists noted.
The agency suggests that the decision to release Pak may have been made amid deteriorating health conditions. So, this year, the former President of the Republic has already been hospitalized three times due to a chronic illness of the shoulder and back. In addition, it became known that Pak is suffering from a psychological disorder.
Earlier, on January 14, the South Korean Supreme Court rejected the prosecutor’s appeal and upheld a 20-year prison sentence for the former president.
Park Geun Hye was removed from office in March 2017 over allegations of abuse of power and bribery. According to the verdict, she tried to get large conglomerates such as Samsung and Lotte to donate 77.4 billion won to funds controlled by her friend. The former president and her aides were also accused of receiving 3.5 billion won from three former leaders of the country’s National Intelligence Service.
She was originally sentenced to 30 years in prison and a fine of about $ 17 billion. However, the court later reduced the sentence to 20 years in prison. Park Geun-hye also has to pay a fine of 180 billion won and compensation of 35 billion won.
In total, the ex-president is to spend 22 years in prison, including a two-year prison sentence she was awarded in 2018 for unlawfully interfering with the nomination process of the then-ruling conservative Senuri party (now disbanded).
