Suspects in Kim Jong-nam death in court, charged with murder

World Today

The two women who police believe applied the deadly VX nerve agent to the face of Kim Jong Nam on Feb. 13 have appeared in a Malaysian courtroom and were charged with murder.

CGTN’s Rian Maelzer reports.

Authorities are also looking for others, including a senior diplomat at the DPRK embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

The 28-year-old Vietnamese woman, Doan Thi Huong, and 25-year-old Indonesian, Siti Aisyah, were brought to court for their first appearance in connection with the death of Kim Jong Nam.

Autopsy results show he was poisoned with the highly deadly chemical weapon VX nerve agent.

It was a fleeting court appearance for the two women, who were wearing the same clothing they were photographed in on the day of their arrests. They were charged with first degree murder, which carries a mandatory death sentence.

Last week, Malaysia’s national police chief said he was sure the two women knew they were carrying out a murder, and not taking part in some kind of televised prank, as they contend.

Lawyers for the accused moved to prevent any similar statements and were granted gag orders.

“The gag order is against the police and against any potential witnesses to refrain from any public statement that have a tendency to incriminate or have a tendency to compromise on her defense,” Gooi Soon Seng, lawyer for Siti Aisyah said.

“She was perfectly all right and of course she was calm. Of course, she’s definitely stressed because she’s facing the death penalty,” Selvan Shanmugan, lawyer for Doan Thi Huong said.

When asked if she understood the charge, Shanmugan replied, “She did. She said ‘I’m innocent.'”