A Malaysian court has postponed the hearing against two women who are accused of having been behind the murder of the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un’s half brother.
The two women Thursday arrived a well-guarded court in Kuala Lumpur wearing bulletproof vests for a hearing. After a short time the Court decided to postpone the hearings until May 30th.
The rationale is that the prosecution asked for more time to prepare the case against the women and that the defenders protested the lack of access to police evidence, including surveillance material and the suspects’ cell phones.
Indonesian Siti Aisyah (25) and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong (28) are suspected of having applied the nerve poison VX to the face of Kim Jong-nam at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).
The toxin is classified as a weapon of mass destruction by the UN. The women risk being sentenced to death by hanging.
Doan Thi Huong’s defender asked the court to change the murder indictment, as the prosecutors have not identified four persons who are listed as accomplices in their documents, but the judge did not agree to the defender’s request.
Siti Aisyah’s defender Gooi Soon Seng said outside the courtroom that the case is compromised as Malaysia let several North Koreans leave the country.
South Korea accuses North Korea of being responsible for the murder, but Pyongyang denies this allegation.
The relationship between the two Koreas were very tense after the murder, but the tone softened somewhat after the body was returned to North Korea in late March, after which nine arrested Malaysians were returned home.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today
