Korean accused plead not guilty
Women face capital punishment as prosecution alleges drug VX used to kill Nam
Two women accused of assassinating the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un with a banned nerve agent pleaded not guilty at the start of a high-profile murder trial in a Malaysian court yesterday.
Indonesian Siti Aisyah, 25, and Doan Thi Huong, 28, a Vietnamese, are charged with killing Kim Jong-nam by smearing his face with VX, a chemical poison banned by the United Nations (UN), at Kuala Lumpur’s international airport on February 13.
Police have also named four North Koreans as suspects in the case and an Interpol red notice, an international alert just short of an arrest warrant, has been issued for the North Koreans, who remain at large.
Prosecutors said the four North Koreans helped the accused women carry out several practice runs in Kuala Lumpur shopping malls.
“The prank practice carried out by the first and second accused of the supervision of the four who are still at large was preparation to see through their common intention to kill the victim,” the prosecution said in its charge sheet.
Defence lawyers demanded that the prosecution immediately name the four other suspects, who have also been charged, so they could prepare their case.
“The charge must be clear,” said Siti Aisyah’s lawyer, Gooi Soon-seng.
Judge Azmi Ariffin their request.
Both women wore bulletproof vests as they were led into the court on the outskirts of the Malaysian capital.
They face the death penalty if convicted.
The two women nodded their heads when the charges were read out to them by two interpreters in the Shah Alam court on the outskirts of the Malaysian capital. The interpreters said both women pleaded not guilty. dismissed
‘Attacked from behind’
The prosecution said their actions showed “intent to kill the victim” by smearing his face and eyes with VX nerve agent, which a post-mortem confirmed had killed Kim.
The women told their lawyers they did not know they were participating in a deadly attack and believed they were carrying out a prank for a reality TV show.
Juliana Idris, who works at the airport, told the court a man later identified as Kim Jong-nam approached her and asked her to take him to a police station. Kim later went to the airport clinic but died there within 20 minutes.