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Kim Jong-nam murder accused revisit Malaysia airport

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IANS Kuala Lumpur

Two women charged in the murder of Kim Jong-nam, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's estranged half-brother, on Tuesday revisited the crime scene at the airport in Malaysia, the media reported.

Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong were at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, escorted by dozens of security officers, reports the BBC.

The women wore bullet proof vests and were accompanied by their lawyers and the judge presiding over the trial.

They are expected to visit the check-in hall where Kim Jong-nam appeared to have been attacked and the medical centre where he sought assistance.

If found guilty, the women face death penalty.

 

Their lawyers are likely to argue that the real culprits are the North Korean agents who left Malaysia, the BBC reported.

The women were accused of smearing the the VX nerve agent, a weapon of mass destruction, with their bare hands on Kim Jong-nam's face on February 13, when he was about to leave for Macau, where he lived in exile.

Malaysian forensic scientists had found traces of the poison in Kim Jong-nam's eyes, urine, blood and personal objects.

Both Doan and Aisyah, who pleaded not guilty when the trial began earlier this month, told the police they believed they were playing a prank for a television show and thought the poison was baby oil.

Four North Korean men, who the Malaysian police suspect of plotting the attack, left the country on the same day as Kim Jong-nam's murder and have been missing since.

South Korea and the US have accused North Korea of masterminding Kim's murder.

--IANS

ksk/mr

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First Published: Oct 24 2017 | 2:02 PM IST

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