(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) –The case against one of two women charged with the murder of the estranged brother of the North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un has been dropped by a court in Malaysia in a shock decision that delighted her friends and family.
Siti Aisyah, from Indonesia, was released from custody after the decision in Kuala Lumpur on Monday morning.
Siti and Doan Thi Huong, from Vietnam, were charged with the murder of Kim Jong-nam in Kuala Lumpur airport in February 2017. The women were accused of smearing the toxic nerve agent VX on his face as he waited to board a flight to Macau. He died within 20 minutes.
Both Siti and Doan claimed they had unknowingly been tricked into carrying out the murder by North Korean operatives, who told them they were playing a prank for a Japanese comedy show. They both allege they thought they were smearing lotion on Kim Jong-nam’s face.
At Shah Alam high court in Kuala Lumpur on Monday morning, the prosecution applied for a discharge not amounting to an acquittal for Siti, under section 254 of the criminal procedure, which was approved by the judge. The prosecution did not provide a reason why they wanted to drop the charges.
