Tight security as Malaysian court charges women with Kim murder
A tightly-guarded Malaysian court yesterday charged two women with murdering the estranged half-brother of North Korea’s leader, who was killed with a powerful nerve agent, and warned them they face the death penalty if convicted. The handcuffed suspects were brought to court surrounded by masked and heavily armed police and Special Forces for their first public appearance since they were arrested two weeks ago.
At least one wore a bulletproof vest on leaving the court. South Korea says the government of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un ordered the killing of Kim Jong-Nam, who had lived overseas for years but had voiced criticism of the regime, and engaged two outsiders to carry it out. Indonesian Siti Aisyah, 25, and Doan Thi Huong, 28, from Vietnam, were held just days after the killing at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on February 13, which Malaysia said was carried out with a nerve agent so deadly that the UN terms it a weapon of mass destruction.
CCTV footage shows two women approaching him as he prepared to fly to Macau and seemingly push something into his face. Kim suffered an agonizing death within 20 minutes of being attacked. Siti, wearing a red T-shirt, was brought in first to hear the murder charge read out before being taken away. Huong, dressed in a yellow top, then heard the charge in Vietnamese. They were accused of murdering Kim with four others still “at large”. Four North Korean suspects fled Malaysia on the day of the murder, police have said. Both female suspects say they thought they were taking part in a prank video but police have dismissed the claims. Neither woman was asked to enter a plea yesterday and their trial is not expected to begin for several months.
However, Huong’s lawyer S Selvam said she told the court: “I am not guilty.” Selvam added his client was “nervous as she is facing a murder charge”. Huong was seen wearing a bulletproof vest as she was escorted out of the building and looked tired as she was led away. Indonesia’s acting ambassador to Malaysia Andreano Erwin said he had met Siti in court and she was “calm”. “We told her to take care of her health as it will be a long trial process,” he said. Jakarta’s foreign ministry said later that defense lawyers had been granted a request for a “gag order” to prevent details of the investigations being disclosed “so there is no interference in the ongoing legal process”.