Suspects’ lawyers fear miscarriage of justice

SEPANG, Malaysia — Lawyers representing the two female suspects accused of murdering a man from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in a Malaysian airport have made complaints against police investigators which they said could comprise their case and lead to a miscarriage of justice.

The suspects, 25-year-old Siti Aisyah from Indonesia and 28-year-old Doan Thi Huong from Vietnam, appeared for the second time at a local court in Sepang on Thursday. They, along with four suspects from the DPRK, were charged with murdering the man on Feb 13 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

Gooi Soon Seng, the defense lawyer for Siti, said the police failed to supply the defense team with CCTV recordings, which could enable them to prepare the case “at the earliest opportunity”.

He also accused the police of not providing the defense team with recorded statements from three DPRK suspects who had been allowed to leave Malaysia.

“Under the circumstances, we believe that they will not be called as prosecution witnesses and will not be made available to the defense,” said Gooi.

Naran Singh, the lawyer for Doan, added that the absence of four DPRK suspects, who fled back to Pyongyang after the killing, is unfair on the two female suspects because it is possible that the four DPRK suspects’ role in the case may never be clarified.

The pretrial review was meant to transfer the case to the high court in Shah Alam. But the formal hearing of the case was postponed until May 30. Muhamad Iskandar Ahmad, lead prosecutor in the case, said they need more time to collect documents.