Malaysia rejects call to free Vietnamese accused
- Vietnam regrets Malaysia court's decision
- Court sets April 1 for trial to resume
Malaysia's attorney-general yesterday rejected Vietnam's request to free a woman accused of the murder of Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of North Korea's leader, and a court set April 1 for her trial to resume.
Vietnam's call had followed Monday's release, at Indonesia's request, of an Indonesian woman, who had been accused along with the Vietnamese, Doan Thi Huong.
Huong and Siti Aisyah were charged with killing Kim Jong Nam by smearing his face with VX poison, a banned chemical weapon, at Kuala Lumpur airport in February 2017.
"It's our complaint that the public prosecution has not acted fairly and justly to Doan Thi Huong," her lawyer Hisyam Teh, who asked for an adjournment on the grounds that his client was unwell.
Teh told the court the rejection of Vietnam's request was "perverse", and a case of discrimination, as the attorney-general had favoured one party over another, since the court had ordered both to enter their defence.
Vietnam's ministers of justice and foreign affairs are communicating with their Malaysian counterparts to secure his client's release, Teh added.
Vietnam's foreign ministry said it regretted the Malaysian court's decision not to immediately free Huong.
"Vietnam has mentioned this case in all its exchanges with Malaysia and we have also requested that Malaysia conduct a fair trial," foreign ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang told a news conference in Hanoi, the capital.
Prosecutors had sprung a surprise on Monday by asking the court to drop the charge against Siti Aisyah and free her. The Indonesian embassy flew her to Jakarta the same day.
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