A Kim Jong Nam murder suspect has been released after prosecutors dismissed her murder charge.
Siti Aisyah, a 27-year-old Indonesian woman, was released today after having her murder charge withdrawn without an acquittal by Malaysian authorities.
There were no reports of why the prosecution decided to overturn the charge, but due to her not being fully acquitted, it means she could be recharged if any new evidence is found against her.
Aisyah was charged for the murder of Kim Jong Un’s half-brother, Kim Jong Nam, at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in February 2017, along with Vietnamese woman Doan Thi Huong, 30, who was also charged.
It was accused that both women used the toxic nerve agent VX on Mr Kim’s face as he was waiting for a flight to Macau, which resulted in him dying 20 minutes later.
The prosecutors argued both women were trained in killings, with deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin saying the murder was like something “in a James Bond movie.”
However, the defence claimed the women were told by North Korean co-conspirators that they were chosen to be in a reality TV show “prank”, that involved them smearing “lotion” on Mr Kim’s face as a joke.
Aisyah’s lawyer, Gooi Soon Seng, insisted she was a “free person” that had been unjustly used as a “scapegoat”.
“We truly believe she’s a scapegoat and she is innocent as we laid out [before]… I still believe that North Korea has something to do with it”, he added.
In a statement also supporting Aisyah, the foreign ministry stated on Monday that she was “deceived and did not realise at all that she was being manipulated by North Korean intelligence.”
The freed woman was pictured leaving Shah Alam High Court just outside of Kuala Lumpur today looking drained but relieved as she told AFP, “I feel happy”.
“I did not know this will happen. I did not expect it,”, she added.
But with Doan Thi Huong’s trial resuming on March 14, it is unclear as to where she stands in relation to being dismissed also.
When speaking to reporters yesterday in court, the accused Vietnamese woman said she was “innocent” and for people to “please pray” for her.
She said: “I do not know what will happen to me now.”
