Defence seeks to show political link in Kim Jong Nam killing
8 Nov 2017 5:15 PM GMT
Shah Alam: Defence lawyers in the trial of two women accused of killing the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sought on Wednesday to establish there was a political motive in the brazen airport assassination, with many key suspects linked to the secretive state.
Siti Aisyah of Indonesia and Doan Thi Huong of Vietnam are the only two suspects in custody. They are accused of smearing the banned nerve agent VX on Kim Jong Nam's face at a Kuala Lumpur airport terminal on February 13.
They pleaded not guilty at the start of their trial on October 2 and face a mandatory death sentence if convicted.
Prosecutors have accused four North Korean men, who fled Malaysia on the day of the killing and remain at large, of conspiring with the women to plot the murder.
"We are able to establish that it is not a simple murder.
There are a lot of political connotations. All the suspects are North Koreans and the North Korean Embassy was not cooperative in helping police," Aisyah's lawyer, Gooi Soon Seng, told reporters after the court session.
"In this case, the motive appears to be political more than anything else ... and the girls would not have any political motive whatsoever."
Police investigating officer Wan Azirul Nizam Che Wan Aziz told the court that the car used to ferry three of the North Korean suspects to the airport on the day of the murder was bought by a North Korean Embassy official known as Chal Su four months earlier.
But he said the vehicle was registered under the name of Ri Jong Chol, a North Korean man. Ri, a chemist, was arrested four days after Kim was killed. He was later released due to a lack of evidence.
Next Story
