Kang Jin-kyu and Matthew Walsh Seoul: A South Korean appeals court increased the sentence of jailed former president Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday to seven years for obstructing justice, up from five years.
A lower court had handed Yoon the initial sentence in January after he was found to have used presidential security agents to block his own arrest.
Both Yoon and the prosecution lodged appeals -- he argued that the arrest warrants against him were based on an "unlawful investigation", while special prosecutors said his punishment should be 10 years given his "egregious" crimes.
"The court sentences the defendant to seven years in prison," a judge at the Seoul High Court said on Wednesday, calling Yoon's actions "highly reprehensible".
"The defendant not only sought to obstruct the lawful execution of warrants by prosecutors and others," he said in his verdict.
"(He) also issued unlawful instructions to public officials of the presidential security service, who are national civil servants, attempting to use them as if they were private guards for his personal protection."
Yoon, who appeared in court wearing a black suit and white shirt, showed little emotion as he listened to the verdict.
The appeals court also upheld his conviction for abuse of power for excluding cabinet members from a meeting to plan the imposition of martial law.
It overturned his acquittal by a lower court of abuse of power for ordering his defence of the martial law declaration to be distributed to foreign media.
And it upheld the lower court's conclusion that Yoon had prepared falsified documents, but had not actually used them.
Yoon's lawyers told AFP they would appeal to the Supreme Court.
