Court drops charge against Siti Aisyah for Jong-nam murder

The Shah Alam High Court ordered a discharge not amounting to an acquittal of the Indonesian national accused of the 2017 murder of Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

This followed an application by the prosecution to drop the murder charge against Siti Aisyah.

Prosecutors informed the court that they received instructions to withdraw the charge against her. However, no reason was given for the application.

Judge Azmi Ariffin rejected a request from the defence for a full acquittal, as it said the trial had already established a prima facie case.

Siti Aisyah, 26, along with Vietnamese national Doan Thi Huong, 30, and four others still at large, were accused of killing Jong-nam with the chemical liquid VX at KLIA2 on Feb 13, 2017.

They were charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder, which carries a mandatory death sentence.

According to Reuters, there were suspicions from the outset that Siti Aisyah and Doan were pawns in the alleged political assassination of Jong-nam.

"We still believe that she was merely a scapegoat. I still believe that North Korea had something to do with it," Siti Aisyah's lawyer, Gooi Soon Seng, was reported as saying.

Her trial was suspended last December as the defence wrangled with prosecutors over statements from seven witnesses.

Reuters reported that Siti Aisyah was immediately escorted to an Indonesian Embassy vehicle outside the courthouse after her release. - Mkini