Prosecution to decide next week whether to recommend release of jailed ex-President Lee
Former President Lee Myung-bak / Yonhap
A district prosecutors' office will make a decision next week on whether to recommend the suspension of jailed former President Lee Myung-bak's 17-year prison term handed down for corruption, sources said Tuesday.
The Suwon District Prosecutors Office will hold a deliberation committee meeting next Tuesday to determine whether to recommend the release of Lee from the Anyang Correctional Institution, according to the judicial source.
Lee, 81, filed the petition earlier this month, citing health issues.
Lee, who was president from 2008 to 2013, has been serving the sentence since the Supreme Court finalized the 17-year prison term in October 2020.
Lee has been in and out of the hospital during his imprisonment for chronic diseases, including diabetes.
He was first imprisoned in March 2018 during a prosecution investigation, before being released on bail in March 2019.
Lee then was re-incarcerated in February 2020 following a higher court's ruling but was released again six days later, after he challenged the cancellation of his bail and the court decided to suspend the execution of the prison sentence until the highest court's ruling on the appeal was made.
Lee was excluded from presidential pardons granted by former President Moon Jae-in, under which jailed ex-President Park Geun-hye was set free. (Yonhap)