Lee Jae-yong, the de facto head of Samsung, on Thursday returned to court as his defence team began arguments in an appeal against his five-year sentence for corruption.

三星(Samsung)事实上的掌门人李在镕(Lee Jae-yong)周四再度出庭，其律师团队开始就其因行贿罪被判刑5年提出上诉并进行陈述。

Arguably the nation’s most powerful individual, Mr Lee was in August convicted on a string of charges including bribing former president Park Geun-hye to win her support for a controversial Samsung merger.

李在镕可以说是韩国最有权势的人，今年8月，他的一系列罪名成立，包括贿赂前韩国总统朴槿惠(Park Geun-hye)以赢得她对一桩有争议的三星并购案的支持。

The court is likely to rule on the appeal by February and many expect his sentence to be reduced to three years or for him to be given probation.

法庭可能将在明年2月对这一上诉作出判决，很多人预计李在镕的刑期将会减为3年，或者将被判处缓刑。

The hearing marked the first appearance of Mr Lee – officially a vice president of Samsung Electronics – in public since his conviction.

这次听证会是李在镕在被定罪后首次公开露面，其公开职务是三星电子(Samsung Electronics)副总裁。