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JUST IN: Ousted South Korean President, Park Geun-hye, Arrested And Detained (PHOTO)
 
By:
Fri, 31 Mar 2017   ||   Nigeria,
 

Ousted South Korean president Park Geun-hye was arrested Friday in Seoul in connection with a corruption scandal that already led to her removal from office, according to Yonhap News Agency.

The Seoul Central District Court issued a warrant to detain Park on charges of bribery, coercion, abuse of power and disclosure of state secrets, according to Yonhap. Television footage showed Park being driven to a detention facility.

Prosecutors filed the request on Monday, March 27, 2017 to arrest Park because of the “graveness of the alleged crimes” and “possibility of the destruction of evidence.”

The court’s ruling means prosecutors can detain Park for up to 20 days before formally charging her, the Associated Press reported.  Park could be in jail while her case is heard. A district court normally issues a ruling within six months of an indictment, the AP reported.

South Korea’s Constitution Court ruled March 10 to uphold Park’s impeachment.  She then vacated the office.

Park was impeached in December on charges of receiving millions of dollars in bribes from businesses and abusing her powers in a scheme with her longtime confidante Choi Soon-sil.

Park is the daughter of former South Korean president Park Chung-hee, who led the country as dictator from 1963 until his assassination in 1979.

She began her term in February 2013, and was the first female president in South Korea and became the first South Korean president to also be impeached from office.

The impeachment ruling stripped her of the right to be buried next to her father at the national cemetery in Seoul and of privileges including an estimated $10,000 monthly pension.

This article originally appeared in USA Today.

 

 

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