Prison Sentence Sought for Ex-President in Defamation Case

Prosecutors on Monday called for an 18-month prison term in a defamation case against former President Chun Doo-hwan.

Chun is accused of defaming a Catholic priest in a 2017 memoir as a "shameless liar" and "Satan under the mask" for testifying that troops fired machine guns at civilians from a helicopter during the Gwangju Democratic Uprising in 1980.

Chun was the military dictator at the time.

The 89-year-old did not attend the hearing at Gwangju District Court and ignored several court summons since being indicted in mid-2018, citing dementia and other health problems.

Instead he is being tried in absentia. A verdict is expected late next month.