Former President Lee Myung-bak, who was sentenced to 17 years in prison for embezzlement and bribery, was pardoned today (27th) by President Yoon Seok-yeol, who led his arrest investigation in the past.



After being convicted by the Supreme Court, he became completely free in about two years and two months.



He served a total of 958 days in prison before being released at the end of June of this year due to suspension of execution of his sentence.



Former President Lee was first arrested in March of that year when the prosecution's investigation into allegations of corruption by DAS and BBK, which surfaced during the 2007 presidential primary, resumed in early 2018.



Afterwards, he came out of the detention center through bail (release on conditions such as deposit) and suspension of arrest, but was convicted at each trial and imprisoned again.



Former President Lee applied for bail when he was sentenced to 15 years in prison in the first trial in October 2018, and in March 2019, during the second trial, he was released after 349 days in custody on the condition that his residence be restricted to his home.



However, the bail was revoked in February 2020 when the trial court upped his sentence to 17 years in prison.



It was a redemption after about a year of bail.



He immediately took out Article 410 of the Criminal Procedure Act, which states that "the execution of the trial is suspended during the period for filing an immediate appeal or when an immediate appeal is filed."



Since he filed an appeal to determine whether the decision to cancel the bail of the second trial court was justified, it was argued that detention should be suspended until the conclusion is reached.



There was a controversy over the 'trick', but he was released after six days of re-arrest.



However, in October 2020, his efforts went back to nothing when the Supreme Court upheld a 17-year prison sentence.



The situation changed when the Yoon Seok-yeol government was launched.



Prosecutors suspended execution of the former president's sentence for three months after he complained of health problems in June of this year.



In the legal and political circles, there was an observation that it was a procedure for a special pardon in time for the 8/15 Liberation Day.



However, due to opposition from public opinion, he was not listed on the list of special envoys for Liberation Day, and instead received a decision to suspend execution for an additional three months.



The suspension period for former President Lee's sentence is until 24:00 today.



For this reason, it is interpreted that the government carried out a special envoy tomorrow (28th).



According to the pardon decision, former President Lee is exempted from the remaining 14 years of his sentence of 17 years in prison and about 8.2 billion won of the remaining 13 billion won fine, without execution.



The finalized fine of 5.78 billion won has been paid in full as the proceeds from the public sale of the sister-in-law in Nonhyeon-dong last year.



Former President Lee is currently hospitalized at Seoul National University Hospital.



After the 28th, he will decide whether to leave the hospital at the discretion of the medical staff.



(Photo = Yonhap News)