2 plead not guilty in assassination
Women accused of killing N. Korea scion in airport.
Two SHAHALAM,MALAYSIA— women accused of smear- ing a banned nerve agent on the face of the estranged half brother of North Korea’s leader pleaded not guilty as their trial began Monday in the Feb. 13 assassination at a crowded Malaysian airport terminal.
Siti Aisyah of Indonesia and Doan Thi Huong of Vietnam are suspected of using VX nerve agent to kill Kim Jong Nam at Kuala Lumpur’s airport. The women say they thought they were playing a harmless prank for a hidden-camera TV show.
An airport doctor testi- fied that Kim died rapidly, with his blood pressure and pulse first soaring and then plunging.
After the charges were read to the women in their native languages at Malaysia’s High Court, they shook their heads “no” when asked if they were guilty.
The two women are the only suspects in custody in a killing that South Korea’s spy agency said was part of a five-year plot by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to kill a brother he reportedly never met. Police say four North Koreans suspected of involvement left the coun- try on the day of the attack. Three others who holed up inside North Korea’s embassy were allowed to leave in a deal with Pyongyang to ease tensions, despite Malaysia’s anger at the public use of a chemical weapon on its territory.
Lawy e rs for t he two women, who face the death penalty if convicted, asked the court to compel prose- cutors to identify four people still at large mentioned in the charge sheet as hav
ing a common intention to kill Kim. The judge denied the request.
Four witnesses testified Monday: an airport information counter worker and a police officer who were among the first to interact with Kim after the attack, and a doctor and a nurse at the airport who treated him.
Airport clinic Dr. Nik Mohd Adzrul Ariff Raja Azlan gave a detailed account of Kim’s rapid decline.
“When I saw him, his hands were clutching his head. He was closing his eyes tightly and his face was very red. He was sweating profusely,” Nik said, adding that Kim was unable to respond when asked what happened.
Nik said Kim had very high blood pressure and a quickened pulse and started to display seizure symptoms, with his jaw and teeth clenched and eyes rolling upward.
He said Kim then fell unconscious, his blood pressure dropped to 70/40, and then his pulse was lost.
The prosecution phase of the trial is expected to last about two months, after which the judge will decide if there is a strong case for the women to have to mount their defense, said Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, Huong’s lawyer.