All complaints about lack of air conditioner in Yoon's cell dismissed

The state-run human rights watchdog dismissed all complaints demanding the installation of an air conditioner in a solitary cell where former President Yoon Suk Yeol is jailed, the National Human Rights Commission said Tuesday.

A total of 104 complaints alleging that Yoon's human rights were being violated at the detention center were dismissed on Feb. 23, the commission said.

The commission cited Yoon’s evident refusal to undergo an investigation as a reason for dismissing the complaints.

Yoon’s supporters have repeatedly filed complaints after Yoon was incarcerated at the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi, in July of last year. Yoon has remained in custody on charges of leading an insurrection for imposing martial law in December 2024 and obstructing public duties.

Of the 104 complaints, 80 called for an air conditioner to be installed in his cell. The complainants claimed that poor conditions in the correctional facility constituted a human rights violation.

Yoon is reportedly being held in a roughly 6.6-square-meter (71-square-foot) solitary cell equipped with a fan but no air conditioner.

“Confining an older inmate to such a small cell during extreme summer heat was unjust,” the supporters said in their petition to the commission. None of the petitions, however, were accepted as valid.

BY HAN YOUNG-HYE [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]