January 08, 2019 11:52
A court has issued a summons for ex-President Chun Doo-hwan after he failed to appear at his trial on Monday for defaming victims of his brutal military crackdown on the Gwangju democratic uprising of 1980.
It was the second time Chun (88) failed to show up since August, when his wife said in a statement that his husband is suffering from dementia. The trial has now been postponed until March 11.
Chun's lawyer told the court the ex-president was unable to attend due to a severe cold and high fever. But the court issued a formal summons for the next date which will be harder for the ex-president to ignore.
Chun is being sued by the families of victims after claiming in his memoirs that an activist priest was lying when he said he witnessed soldiers firing at citizens from helicopters during the suppression of the uprising.
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