SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A Seoul court says an independent counsel has demanded a death sentence for former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on rebellion charges in connection with his imposition of martial law in December 2024.

The Seoul Central District Court said independent counsel Cho Eun-suk’s team made the request at a hearing Tuesday.

Removed from office last April, Yoon faces criminal trials over his short-lived martial law debacle and other scandals related to his time in office.

Charges that he directed a rebellion are the most significant ones.

The court is expected to deliver a verdict on Yoon in February.

Yoon has maintained that his decree was a desperate yet peaceful attempt to raise public awareness about what he considered the danger of the liberal opposition Democratic Party, which used its legislative majority to obstruct his agenda and complicate state affairs.

Yoon called the opposition-controlled parliament “a den of criminals” and “anti-state forces.” But lawmakers rushed to object to the imposition of martial law in dramatic overnight scenes, and enough of them, including even those within Yoon’s ruling party, managed to enter an assembly hall to vote down Yoon’s decree.