ZCZC
BFF-11
MALAYSIA-NKOREA-VIETNAM-TRIAL-CRIME
Vietnam woman in N. Korea murder case accepts new charge, likely to walk
free
SHAH ALAM, Malaysia, April 1, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A Vietnamese woman suspected
of assassinating the North Korean leader’s half-brother accepted a lesser
charge Monday and looks set to be freed soon, after her Indonesian co-accused
was released last month.
Doan Thi Huong smiled and said “I’m happy” after prosecutors presented her
legal team with the new charge in a Malaysian court and they announced the
details.
She has been on trial since 2017 for the murder of Kim Jong Nam at Kuala
Lumpur airport with a toxic nerve agent in a Cold War-style hit.
It came after authorities last month rejected her initial request for her
murder charge to be dropped entirely — a shock decision after the attorney-
general agreed to withdraw the charge against her Indonesian co-defendant,
Siti Aisyah, and she walked free.
Salim Bashir, one of her lawyers, told reporters outside the High Court in
Shah Alam, outside Kuala Lumpur, that the 30-year-old had been offered a
charge of causing hurt by dangerous weapons instead of murder.
Soon afterwards, the new charge was read in court to Huong and she pleaded
guilty. The charge carries a maximum 10-year jail term but the lawyer said
she would likely receive a shorter sentence.
It is “very likely she could walk out free today”, he said.
– Denied murder –
Both women had always denied murder, saying they were tricked by North
Korean spies into carrying out the assassination that shocked the world using
a highly toxic nerve agent, and believed it was a prank for a reality TV
show.
Their lawyers presented them as scapegoats and said the real masterminds
were four North Koreans accused alongside them, but who fled Malaysia shortly
after the assassination.
If released, it will mean that no one is facing murder charges for the
killing in February, 2017 of Kim Jong Un’s estranged relative, who was once
considered heir apparent to the North Korean leadership until he fell out of
favour.
South Korea accuses the North of ordering the hit, a claim vehemently
denied by Pyongyang.
There were dramatic scenes in court when Huong’s initial bid for immediate
release was rejected — she sobbed in the dock and had to be helped out of
court by two police officers.
Vietnam reacted angrily to the decision, which came just days after the
Indonesian defendant was released, and started stepping up pressure on
Malaysia to free Huong.
A murder conviction carries a mandatory penalty of death by hanging in
Malaysia. The government vowed last year to scrap capital punishment but
recently indicated that it might backtrack.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0846 hrs