Statements from three North Korean suspects not public documents — Prosecution
SEPANG: The prosecution in the murder case of Kim Chol or Kim Jong- nam told the Magistrates' Court here yesterday that it was not obliged to give to the defence the witness statements recorded from three North Korean suspects who had since returned to their country.
Selangor prosecution director Muhamad Iskandar Ahmad said the reason being that the witness statements were not publ ic documents.
He said the prosecution could not, at this stage, give the statements to the lawyers representing the two accused in the case, Indonesian Siti Aisyah, 25, and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, 28.
On March 1, Siti Aisyah and Doan were charged along with four others still at large with murdering Kim Chol, 45, at the KL International Airport 2 (klia2) departure hall around 9am on Feb 13.
The charge, under Section 302 of the Penal Code, provides the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.
However, Muhamad Iskandar said the prosecution would supply the statements during the course of the trial.
“At this stage, we cannot supply,” he said in response to the request for the statements from lawyer Gooi Soon Seng, representing Siti Aisyah, and Hisyam Teh Poh Teik and Datuk Naran Singh, acting for Doan.
To a request by the defence for CCTV recordings from various places, Muhamad Iskandar said the prosecution only focused on the CCTV at the place of the incident in klia2 and would refer the matter to the investigation officer.
On the request by the defence for all documents involved, Muhamad Iskandar said the documents were not ready yet.
“I don’t think this court has the jurisdiction to decide on the requests, and all legal disputes can be raised at the High Court as this court can only transmit this case to the High Court,” he said.
The prosecution, however, submitted the witness statements recorded from the two accused to the defence yesterday.
Sessions Court Judge Harith Sham Mohamed Yasin, who sat as magistrate, said he did not have the jurisdiction to instruct the prosecution, but he had recorded all the requests and complaints from the lawyers and advised the prosecution to assist the defence in the matter.
Earlier, Gooi complained that when Siti Aishah was arrested by the police, he made several attempts to seek permission to interview her, but his requests were turned down.
He said he was only able to interview Siti Aisyah after she was charged in court and for limited time of up to only 45 minutes per visit.
Gooi also said he had written to the police reminding them what Siti Aisyah told the police soon after she was arrested and had also sought their co- operation to obtain the CCTV recordings from various places.
“Our requests to the police also include for the supply of the CCTV recordings to enable us to prepare our defence at the earliest opportunity. We had also requested them to supply us with the statements recorded from our clients,” he said.
The lawyer also said the police had recorded statements from three North Korean citizens who had been allowed to return to their country.
“Under the circumstances, we believe they will not be called as prosecution witnesses and will not be made available to the defence. We had also requested the police to supply us with a copy of their statements,” he added.
Gooi said the defence had yet to receive a reply from the police or the prosecution on their requests and that the delay was unacceptable as his client had a right to a fair trial.
Hisyam had some of the same complaints as Gooi, and said that without the statements from the three North Koreans, the defence was handicapped in preparing their case.
Meanwhile, Naran wanted the prosecution to disclose the identities of the four accused who were still at large at the next mention of the case for them to prepare the defence.
“Who are all these people? We want to see her (accused) connection with the four others. The charge sheet must be clear,” he said.
At yesterday’s proceedings the charge against the two accused were read again to them by interpreters in Indonesian and Vietnamese. Both accused, who looked calm, nodded to show that they understood the charge.
Members of the local and foreign press were allowed to enter the courtroom at about 9am and had to surrender all electronic devices, including handphones.
Also present were Indonesian and Vietnamese embassy officials and two lawyers from the Vietnamese Bar. The court set 30 May for re-mention of the case as the prosecution said it needed one and half months to complete all documents in the case. — Bernama