It’s mind-boggling A-G not withdrawing charge, says Ramkarpal

KUALA LUMPUR: The refusal of the attorney-general to withdraw the murder charge against Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong after doing that in the case of her Indonesian co-accused is “mindboggling”.

DAP legal bureau chairman Ramkarpal Singh said the decision raised questions about the powers of the attorney-general.

“No doubt, the attorney-general has the power to discontinue proceedings against ( Indonesian co-accused) Siti Aisyah, but why did he not do the same in the case of Doan?

“Doan and Siti Aisyah were charged together. Doan has a constitutional right to be treated the way Siti Aisyah was as she is entitled to equal protection of the law.

“As the attorney-general need not give reasons for his decision, Doan will never know why she was treated differently from Siti Aisyah. If she is convicted, she will always wonder if Siti Aisyah was equally culpable.

“In cases like these, the discretion of the attorney-general ought to be open to question, particularly when a person’s life is at stake,” he said in a statement.

Doan and Siti Aisyah were charged, together with four men at large, with the murder of Kim Chol, the alias under which Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was travelling, at Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 on Feb 13, 2017.

Ramkarpal said the fact that the duo were charged implied that the prosecution believed they had enough evidence against them.

Furthermore, he said, the trial judge made a finding that the prosecution had succeeded in establishing a prima facie case against both of them and called upon them to enter their defence against the charge.

“This means that the court takes the view that if Doan and Siti Aisyah were to remain silent in their defence, they would be convicted of the murder of Jongnam on the evidence presented by the prosecution.

“It was reported... that the attorney-general acceded to the request of Indonesian Law Minister Yasonna Laoly to drop the charge against Siti Aisyah on the basis that North Korea was responsible for the murder. If this was the case, why did the attorney-general charge Siti Aisyah in the first place?”

Ramkarpal said the charge against Doan ought to have been dropped the same way the charge against Siti Aisyah had been if the attorney-general was of the view “that North Korea had a hand” in Jong-nam’s murder.

“Subjecting Doan to further prosecution and not her co-accused is, with respect, unprecedented and regrettable.”