South Korea’s prosecutors have indicted impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol on charges of leading an insurrection with his short-lived imposition of martial law on December third.

In a statement, prosecutors said they had “indicted Yoon Suk Yeol with detention on charges of being the ringleader of an insurrection”.

Today’s decision came after anti-corruption investigators last week recommended Yoon be formally charged.

Insurrection is one of the few criminal charges from which a South Korean president does not have immunity.

It is punishable by life imprisonment or death, although South Korea has not executed anyone in decades.