Kim Jong-nam assassination probe slammed as ‘shoddy’ as trial nears end
Defence lawyers and prosecutors are expected to wrap up their closing arguments by Friday, after which the judge could take up to a month to make a ruling
The investigation into the assassination of the North Korean leader’s half-brother was “shoddy” and “lopsided”, a Malaysian court heard Wednesday as the trial resumed of two women accused of the murder.
Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong allegedly killed Kim Jong-nam by smearing a toxic nerve agent on his face at Kuala Lumpur International Airport last year in a cold war-style hit that shocked the world.
Defence lawyers have argued that the women were recruited to take part in what they thought were prank TV shows but were instead tricked into becoming inadvertent assassins, in an elaborate plot by a group of North Korean agents.
The women, in their 20s, have denied murdering Kim Jong-un’s estranged half-brother as he waited for a flight to Macau. They face death by hanging if found guilty.
The trial, which began last year, resumed Wednesday after a break since early April, with the women escorted into court handcuffed and wearing bulletproof vests.
Aisyah’s lawyer Gooi Soon Seng made his final submission, telling the Shah Alam High Court, outside Kuala Lumpur, that “the investigation was not only shoddy but was lopsided”.