S Korea’s top court upholds ex-president’s 20-year jail term

SEOUL, Jan 14: South Korea's top court upheld a 20-year prison sentence for disgraced former president Park Geun-hye on Thursday, in the final ruling over the corruption scandal that brought her down.
The decision brings to an end an extended legal process that involved multiple trials and appeals, including a previous Supreme Court hearing.
The country's first female president was impeached in 2017 after huge street protests against her rule.
She was convicted the following year of bribery and abuse of power and jailed for 30 years. A series of appeals, a retrial and further appeals followed which reduced her sentence to 20 years.
On Thursday, the case went for a second time before the Supreme Court, which said it accepted and confirmed the 20-year sentence.
The court also upheld fines and forfeits totalling  US$19.5 million.
Park has been boycotting the proceedings, saying they are biased against her, and was not present in court on Thursday.    -AFP