Siti Aisyah withdraws full acquittal appeal in Jong-nam murder charge

An Indonesian woman charged with the murder of Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, has withdrawn her appeal for a full acquittal.

Lawyer Gooi Soon Seng told Malaysiakini this follows Attorney-General Tommy Thomas' assurance in open court that he, as the Public Prosecutor, will not take any future action against Siti Aisyah (photo), who returned to Indonesia in March after more than two years in detention.

On March 27, Shah Alam High Court judge Azmi Ariffin ordered a discharge without an acquittal for Siti Aisyah after the prosecution applied to drop the murder charge against her under Section 254(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code.

"We filed the appeal against the decision of the High Court in granting a discharge not amounting to an acquittal against Siti Aisyah.

"In view of the said undertaking given by the Attorney General, we will also withdraw our appeal in open court," Gooi told Malaysiakini prior to the withdrawal application before a panel of three Court of Appeal judges this morning.

Gooi said Thomas had given his undertaking before Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, who led a five-member Federal Court bench last month, and

struck out the prosecution's appeal against a Court of Appeal order that compelled them to provide the defence with the cautioned statements of seven of its witnesses.

Tengku Maimun had reportedly ruled that the appeal was academic as Siti Aisyah's case had properly been disposed of, hence there was no longer a "live issue" as far as the criminal case was concerned.

Thomas had at the time submitted that the court should hear the appeal on merits as there were questions of general interest or importance.

Siti Aisyah, 26, along with Vietnamese national Doan Thi Huong, 30, and four North Koreans 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.

Doan was sentenced to three years and four months in jail after she pleaded guilty to voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous means to Jong-nam. - Mkini