 This was after his client Siti Aisyah and Doan Thi Huong were taken to a Malaysian court in bulletproof vests, ahead of a murder trial that could see them hanged. The Sepang magistrate's court was located to the airport where Kim Jong Nam was fatally poisoned on Feb 13.
Police accuse the pair of having wiped the nerve agent VX on Kim's face at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The poison is classified as a weapon of mass destruction and banned around the world. Rival South Korea accuses the North of masterminding the death of Kim, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Pyongyang denies the accusation. Some 100 police officers including masked special forces armed with assault rifles were deployed to secure the small court compound where the women were taken for Thursday's hearing. Police are still looking for four North Korean men who are suspected accomplices of the women. The four, however, are believed to have returned to Pyongyang. Three other North Koreans earlier described as "persons of interest", including a diplomat based in Malaysia, have been allowed to return home. ALLOWING SUSPECTS TO LEAVE COMPROMISES CASE: DEFENCE Lawyers for the two suspects said police have compromised their defence by allowing three North Koreans including a man known as "James" to leave - as he was implicated by Indonesian Siti Aisyah in her statement. In complaints to the court, Gooi Soon Seng said he had written to the police five times for information including CCTV footage that could support his with clients defence - as well as for the testimonies of three North Koreans allowed to leave Malaysia. Gooi claimed police did not respond. Lawyers for the Vietnamese suspect also allege they too have written twice to the police without any response. "We must not be handicapped in our preparation," Gooi told the court. The killing sparked a diplomatic crisis between Malaysia and North Korea which saw both countries banning each other's citizens from leaving and withdrawing their ambassadors. The travel ban was lifted in late March after a deal was struck involving the return of Kim's body to Pyongyang. |
JUSTCLICK & CONNECT
|