Nine-member team to defend Vietnamese woman accused of Kim murder

By Viet Anh   April 12, 2017 | 02:02 am PT
Nine-member team to defend Vietnamese woman accused of Kim murder
Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong leaves a Sepang court after she was charged with the murder of North Korea Kim Jong Nam, in Malaysia March 1, 2017. Photo by Reuters/Alexandra Radu
Three Vietnamese lawyers will be part of her defense team.

Three Vietnamese lawyers will be among the nine-member team defending the Vietnamese woman accused of murdering Kim Jong Nam, the North Korean leader’s late half-brother, at her trial on Thursday in Malaysia.

A source from Vietnam’s foreign ministry said Malaysian lawyers Hisyam Teh Poh Teik and Naran Singh, both experienced criminal defense lawyers, will represent Doan Thi Huong, with assistance from seven people, including three from the Vietnam Bar Association.

The Vietnamese trio will not defend her directly as Malaysian law does not allow it, but will provide assistance during the trial.

Huong’s father Doan Van Thanh visited her in prison on Wednesday.

“Seeing her healthy and stable, I feel better,” Thanh told Voice of Vietnam in Kuala Lumpur.

“I believe a hundred percent that my daughter is innocent. She could not do that,” he said, referring to the murder that she and Indonesian Siti Aisyah, 25, were charged of at their first trial on March 1.

Police accuse the pair of having wiped VX nerve agent, a weapon of mass destruction and banned around the world, on Kim’s face at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on February 13. Both are facing the death penalty.

The women claim they thought they were merely taking part in a prank video.

An official from the Vietnamese Embassy in Kuala Lumpur also said Huong is in “normal health and does not seem worried” ahead of the second trial.

 
 
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