indicts

Former prime minister and the wife of ex-president Yoon Suk-yeol both indicted on separate charges on the same day.

South Korean prosecutors in separate cases have indicted former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo for aiding and abetting former President Yoon Suk-yeol’s short-lived imposition of martial law last year, and the ex-president’s wife, Kim Keon-hee, for bribery and other charges.

The charges were laid against Han, 76, on Friday, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. Additional charges include perjury and falsifying official documents.

Han had been under investigation by a team of special prosecutors for several weeks, according to media reports.

Former First Lady Kim was also indicted on charges stemming from her alleged participation in a stock manipulation scheme and acceptance of gifts from the controversial Unification Church, among other activities.

Lawyers for Kim have denied the allegations against her and said news reports about some of the gifts she allegedly received were groundless speculation.

Assistant special counsel Park Ji-young told a televised briefing that Han was the highest official who could have blocked Yoon’s attempt to impose martial law.

Park said Han still played an “active” role in Yoon’s martial law declaration by trying to get Yoon’s decree passed through a Cabinet Council meeting as a way to give “procedural legitimacy” to it.

Han has maintained that he conveyed to Yoon that he opposed his martial law plan.

Kim and her ex-president husband have been arrested and are in jail, with Yoon already undergoing trial on charges that include insurrection for his attempt to impose military rule.

His wife had been the subject of numerous high-profile scandals, some dating back more than 15 years, which overshadowed his turbulent presidency and inflicted political damage on him and his conservative People Power Party (PPP).

Yoon was formally impeached in April.

Former Prime Minister Han stepped in twice to serve as acting president during the post-martial law chaos between December and May, but he later resigned to participate in South Korea’s presidential election.

He failed, however, to secure the candidacy for the PPP.

The June 3 election was later won by the liberal Democratic Party’s Lee Jae-myung, who had livestreamed himself climbing over the walls of South Korea’s National Assembly to vote down the martial law declared by Yoon.

Deposed prime minister and others are indicted for crimes against humanity, with trial set for August.

Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has indicted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and two senior officials over alleged crimes against humanity linked to a deadly crackdown on protesters during last year’s July uprising.

The tribunal, led by Justice Golam Mortuza Mozumder and comprising justices Shafiul Alam Masud and Mohitul Enam Chowdhury, formally charged Hasina on Thursday.

Proceedings will begin on August 3 with opening statements, followed by the first witness testimony.

Hasina, who fled to India following a student-led uprising last August, had been facing several charges. Earlier this month, in a separate ruling, she was sentenced to six months in prison for contempt of court by the ICT. That had marked the first time she had received a formal sentence in any of the cases.

Chief Prosecutor Muhammad Tajul Islam said that the sentence delivered in absentia will take effect if Hasina is arrested or voluntarily returns to Bangladesh.

The two other accused on Thursday are former home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah al-Mamun. While al-Mamun appeared before the court and remains in custody, both Hasina and Kamal have fled abroad.

The charges stem from Hasina’s now ousted government’s violent response to mass demonstrations, which critics say resulted in widespread human rights abuses and hundreds of deaths.

Hasina, who now lives in self-imposed exile in India after being deposed following a 15-year rule, has dismissed the tribunal as politically motivated.