Kim murder suspect escapes death penalty two years after killing

● Woman pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and set to be released soon

0 Doan Thi Huong, right, leaves Shah Alam High Court in Malaysia. The Vietnamese woman was the last suspect still in custody charged with the killing of Kim Jong Nam Two years after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s half brother was killed, a Malaysian court has dropped the murder charge against the only suspect still in custody.

Vietnamese woman Doan Thi Huong instead pleaded guilty to a lesser offence and is expected to be released soon.

The move to reduce the charge against her came three weeks after an even more stunning development in the case when prosecutors unexpectedly dropped the murder charge against Huong’s Indonesian co-defendant and immediately freed her.

The two women had been the only suspects in custody after four North Korean suspects fled Malaysia following the killing of Kim Jong Nam in a Kuala Lumpur airport terminal on the morning of 13 February 2017. Oh Ei Sun, a senior fellow with the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, said the decision not to charge the two women with murder likely marked the end of the case.

“This is pretty much the end as the real culprits are apparently hiding behind the veil of diplomatic immunity and state-sponsored sanctuary,” Dr Oh said.

Huong and the Indonesian woman, Siti Aisyah, have said they thought they were participating in a prank for a TV show and did not know they actually were taking part in a high-profile murder.

The two were arrested and accused of smearing VX nerve agent on Mr Kim’s face.

Mr Kim was the eldest son in this generation of North Korea’s ruling family.

He had been living abroad for years, but could have been seen as a threat to Kim Jongun’s rule.

Lawyers for the women have previously said they were pawns in a political assassination with clear links to the North Korean Embassy in Kuala Lumpur. They argued the prosecution failed to show the women had any intention to kill. Intent to kill is crucial to a murder charge under Malaysian law.

Malaysian officials have never officially accused North Korea and have made it clear they do not want the trial politicised.

The murder charge the women had faced carried the death penalty if they were convicted. Huong nodded yesterday as a translator read the new charge to her; voluntarily causing injury with a dangerous weapon, VX nerve agent.

Dr Oh said he believed it was a “friendly gesture to Vietnam while paying due respect to the judicial process”.

While Huong may not have had any premeditated intent to kill Mr Kim, she did apply the VX on his face and has to account for it, he said.

High Court Judge Azmi Ariffin sentenced Huong to three years and four months in prison from the day she was arrested on 15 February 2017.