Investigators in South Korea on Wednesday arrested impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol in connection with his attempt to impose martial law in the country, news agency Yonhap reported.

This is the first time an incumbent South Korean president has been arrested. He is being questioned in multiple investigations, including allegations of leading an insurrection, a crime which is punishable by life imprisonment or death.

On December 14, South Korea’s Parliament impeached Yoon, 12 days after his failed attempt to impose martial law in the country. Since then, he has been confined to his residence and protected by presidential security, which thwarted an earlier attempt to arrest him on January 3.

On Wednesday, Yoon was arrested by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, an independent agency under the South Korean government, after a warrant was issued earlier in the day.

More than 3,000 police officers marched on his residence to arrest him, according to Reuters.

The authorities can detain Yoon for 48 hours for questioning. However, they need to obtain another warrant to arrest him for up to 20 days after this period or release him.

“Although it is an illegal investigation, I decided to agree to appear at the CIO [Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials] in order to prevent ugly bloodshed,” Yonhap quoted Yoon as saying in a video statement after his arrest.

Yoon’s lawyers claimed that the warrant for his arrest in the matter was illegal as it was issued in the wrong jurisdiction, Reuters reported. The team set up to investigate the impeached president also had no legal mandate to do so, his lawyers added.

His arrest comes amid the Constitutional Court, one of the highest courts in South Korea responsible for constitutional review, deciding whether to uphold Yoon’s impeachment and permanently remove him from office or restore his presidential powers, according to Reuters.

Yoon had imposed military rule in the country on December 3 but reversed the decision six hours later after his Parliament voted against it. He claimed the move was needed to “eliminate anti-state elements” and safeguard the country from “North Korea’s communist forces”.

However, the short-lived martial law order led to thousands of South Koreans coming out in protest. The country’s main Opposition party, the Democratic Party, had also called for the president to be stripped of his authority.