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Wednesday, March 13, 2019, 14:27
Vietnam urges Malaysia free national in DPRK man's killing
By Reuters
Wednesday, March 13, 2019, 14:27 By Reuters

In this April 5, 2018, photo, Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, center, is escorted by police as she leaves after a court hearing at the Shah Alam High Court in Shah Alam, Malaysia. (SADIQ ASYRAF / AP)

HANOI — Vietnam called on Malaysia on Tuesday to free a Vietnamese woman accused of the 2017 VX poison murder of Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) national Kim Jong-Nam, a day after a Malaysian court dropped the same charge against an Indonesian woman. 

Doan Thi Huong's co-defendant, Indonesian Siti Aisyah, was freed on Monday

Foreign Minister Pham Binh Binh, in a telephone call to his Malaysian counterpart Saifuddin Abdullah, asked Malaysia to "ensure a fair trial and free Vietnamese citizen Doan Thi Huong", the government said in a statement. 

In a separate statement on Wednesday, the government said Justice Minister Le Thanh Long had sent a letter to Malaysia's attorney-general, Tommy Thomas, asking Malaysia to free Huong. 

Huong's co-defendant, Indonesian Siti Aisyah, was freed on Monday. 

ALSO READ: Indonesia woman freed 2 years after Kim Jong-nam's death

She and Huong had been accused of poisoning Kim Jong Nam, half-brother of DPRK's leader Kim Jong Un, with liquid VX at Kuala Lumpur airport in February 2017. Conviction could carry the death penalty. 

Minh said in the phone conversation that senior leaders and the people of Vietnam had paid close attention to the trial, the government statement said. 

Huong's father, Doan Van Thanh, said Siti Aisyah's release was good news for his family. 

"I believe that my daughter will be released too because she is innocent. We haven't received any information from Malaysia recently, and we are eager to hear from them now," Thanh told Reuters. 

The court is scheduled to resume proceedings on Thursday. 

READ MORE: 2 women plead not guilty in KL airport murder

During the trial, the court was shown CCTV footage of two women assaulting Kim Jong Nam while he prepared to check in for a flight, allegedly smearing the liquid VX, a banned chemical weapon, on his face. 

Siti Aisyah and Huong have maintained that they believed they had been hired to take part in a reality TV prank show.

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