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Agence France-Presse

A Vietnamese woman accused of assassinating the half-brother of North Korea’s leader was sentenced to three years and four months in jail after accepting a lesser charge on Monday and will likely be freed in May, her lawyer said.
“In the first week of May, she will go home,” lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik told reporters in the Shah Alam High Court, near Kuala Lumpur.
Doan Thi Huong, originally charged with murder, had pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of causing injury, and the judge sentenced her to three years and four months in jail from her arrest in February, 2017.
She has been on trial since 2017 for the murder of Kim Jong-nam at Kuala Lumpur airport with a toxic nerve agent in a cold war-style hit.
Kim Jong-nam murder trial: Vietnam asks Malaysia to free assassination suspect Doan Thi Huong
It came after authorities last month rejected her initial request for her murder charge to be dropped entirely – a shock decision after the attorney general agreed to withdraw the charge against her Indonesian co-defendant, Siti Aisyah, and she walked free.
Salim Bashir, one of her lawyers, said that the 30-year-old had been offered a charge of causing hurt by dangerous weapons instead of murder.
Soon afterwards, the new charge was read in court to Huong and she pleaded guilty.

Huong told reporters: “I’m happy, this is a fair sentence. This is a fair judgement, I thank the Malaysian government and the Vietnamese government.”
Huong’s stepmother said on Monday she was delighted her stepdaughter had escaped the death sentence, urging her to “hang on” until her expected release.
“We wanted her to be freed immediately,” Nguyen Thi Vy said in her rice farming village in northern Vietnam.
“The family is happy enough with her escaping death penalty,” she added after lighting incense to thank ancestors for sparing her stepdaughter from death.
Huong underwent a psychiatric assessment last month after her initial bid to be released was rejected.
Shadowy group plotting Kim Jong-un’s overthrow raided a North Korean embassy
Both the accused women had always denied murder, saying they were tricked by North Korean spies into carrying out the assassination that shocked the world using a highly toxic nerve agent, and believed it was a prank for a reality TV show.
Their lawyers presented them as scapegoats and said the real masterminds were four North Koreans accused alongside them, but who fled Malaysia shortly after the assassination.
If released, it will mean that no one is facing murder charges for the killing in February, 2017 of Kim Jong-un’s estranged relative, who was once considered heir apparent to the North Korean leadership until he fell out of favour.
South Korea accuses the North of ordering the hit, a claim vehemently denied by Pyongyang.
There were dramatic scenes in court when Huong’s initial bid for immediate release was rejected – she sobbed in the dock and had to be helped out of court by two police officers.
Vietnam reacted angrily to the decision, which came just days after the Indonesian defendant was released, and started stepping up pressure on Malaysia to free Huong.
A murder conviction carries a mandatory penalty of death by hanging in Malaysia. The government vowed last year to scrap capital punishment but recently indicated that it might backtrack.


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Vietnam

Kim Jong-nam murder trial: Vietnamese suspect Doan Thi Huong accepts reduced charge, will be freed in May

Doan Thi Huong, who was a suspect in the murder of Kim Jong-nam. Photo: Reuters

FILE - This May 4, 2001, file photo shows Kim Jong Nam, exiled half brother of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, in Narita, Japan. Kim Jong Nam, 46, was targeted Monday, Feb. 13, 2017, in the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia, and later died on the way to the hospital according to a Malaysian government official. Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi says the identity of Kim Jong Nam, who was killed last month, was confirmed with the DNA sample from one of his children. (AP Photos/Shizuo Kambayashi, File)

Female assassins ‘used chemical spray’ to kill Kim Jong-un’s half-brother in Malaysia

(FILES) This file photo taken on February 11, 2007 shows a man believed to be North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il's eldest son, Kim Jong-Nam walking among journalists upon his arrival at the Beijing airport. Kim Jong-Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has been assassinated in Malaysia, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said on February 14, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / JAPAN POOL VIA JIJI PRESS / STR

(170202) -- PYONGYANG, Feb. 2, 2017 (Xinhua) -- Photo provided by Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Feb. 2, 2017 shows top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un recently giving field guidance to the newly built Pyongyang Orphans' Primary School. Kim Jong Un went around the school building, dormitory building and other places to learn in detail about the construction and preparations for operating the school. Then he observed a Korean language lesson of grade two and gave instructions for managing and operating the school. (Xinhua/KCNA)
****Authorized by ytfs****

Late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il with his first-born son Kim Jong-nam in 1981. Photo: AP

(FILES) This file photo taken on May 4, 2001 shows an immigration officer (L) escorting Kim Jong-Nam, son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, getting off a bus to board an ANA905 (All Nippon Airways) airplane at Narita airport near Tokyo. Kim Jong-Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has been assassinated in Malaysia, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said on February 14, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA

Kim Jong-nam, the eldest son of North Korean late leader Kim Jong-il. Photo: AFP

Chaos, jubilation and chants of ‘Kim Jong-nam’ as Indonesian villagers welcome home  Siti Aisyah, ex-suspect in killing of North Korean leader’s half brother

Villagers gather to welcome Siti Aisyah, formerly accused of killing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's estranged half brother, in Rancasumur, Indonesia, Tuesday, March 12, 2019. A chaotic crush of jubilant villagers and reporters has greeted the young Indonesian woman who was freed after Malaysia dropped a prosecution that alleged she was a trained killer who murdered the estranged half brother of North Korea's leader two years ago. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)

A crush of media and well-wishers greet Siti Aisyah, centre, as she arrives at her home village of Rancasumur on Tuesday evening. Photo: AP

Is the murder of Kim Jong-nam forcing China’s hand against North Korea?

A file picture of Kim Jong-nam who was murdered at Kuala Lumpur airport last month,. Photo: Handout

epa05767728 A group of people hold a rally in opposition of the deployment of the US advanced missile defense system Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) to South Korea as Defense Minister Han Min-koo meets with US Defense Secretary James Mattis at the Ministry of Defense in Seoul, South Korea, 03 February 2017. EPA/YONHAP SOUTH KOREA OUT

Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD). SCMP Pictures (UNDATED HANDOUT)

Lawyers for women accused of killing Kim Jong-nam claim trial compromised because Malaysia let North Korean suspects flee

Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, 28, (C) who was detained in connection with the death of Kim Jong-nam, is escorted by Malaysian police for a court appearance. Photo: EPA

Indonesian suspect Siti Aisyah, center, arrested in the death of Kim Jong Nam, is escorted by police officers as she leaves at a court house in Sepang, Malaysia, Thursday, April 13, 2017. Malaysian authorities said two women swiped Kim's face with VX nerve agent as he waited in Kuala Lumpur airport for a flight home to Macau in February. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

A man believed to be Kim Uk Il, an employee of North Korea's national airline Air Koryo, is pictured on a plane ahead of its departure from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing on March 30, 2017. Kim and another North Korean man linked to the apparent assassination of Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, arrived in Beijing in the early hours of March 31 from Malaysia on a flight believed to be transporting Jong Nam's body. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

FILE PHOTO: Kim Jong Nam arrives at Beijing airport in Beijing, China, in this photo taken by Kyodo February 11, 2007. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS/File Photo ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. EDITORIAL USE ONLY. MANDATORY CREDIT. JAPAN OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN JAPAN. THIS PICTURE WAS PROCESSED BY REUTERS TO ENHANCE QUALITY. AN UNPROCESSED VERSION HAS BEEN PROVIDED SEPARATELY.

Police stand guard inside a court house in Sepang, Malaysia, Thursday, April 13, 2017. Vietnamese and Indonesian suspects who were arrested in the death of Kim Jong Nam arrived in the court house. Malaysian authorities say the two women swiped Kim's face with VX nerve agent as he waited in Kuala Lumpur airport for a flight home to Macau in February. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Lawyer for Vietnamese suspect calls for Malaysian authorities to conduct ‘new autopsy’ on Kim Jong-nam’s body

Vietnamese suspect Doan Thi Huong (centre) outside court in Sepang. Photo: AP

epa05822060 (FILE) - An undated combo handout file photograph released by the Royal Malaysia Police (RMP) shows Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong (L) and Indonesian Siti Aisyah (R) after being arrested in connection with the death of Kim Jong-nam, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (reissued on 01 March 2017). A man named Kim Chol, an alias used by Kim Jong-nam, a half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was killed at a Kuala Lumpur airport on 13 February 2017, after two women reportedly sprayed him with a highly toxic chemical weapon known as the VX nerve agent, Malaysian police said on 24 February. The two women, Doan Thi Huong from Vietnam and Siti Aisyah from Indonesia, have been charged with murder under Section 302 of the penal code, which carries mandatory death sentence if found guilty, media said quoting the attorney general on 01 March 2017. EPA/ROYAL MALAYSIA POLICE HANDOUT -- BEST QUALITY AVAILABLE -- HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

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Asia

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East Asia

She has been on trial since 2017 for the murder of Kim Jong-nam at Kuala Lumpur airport with a toxic nerve agent in a cold war-style hit
The attorney general agreed last month to withdraw the charge against her Indonesian co-defendant, Siti Aisyah


Doan Thi Huong has been on trial since 2017 for the murder of Kim Jong-nam at Kuala Lumpur airport with a toxic nerve agent.


Kim Jong-nam

North Korea

Crime

Malaysia

Kim Jong-nam murder trial: Vietnamese suspect Doan Thi Huong accepts reduced charge, will be freed in May

She has been on trial since 2017 for the murder of Kim Jong-nam at Kuala Lumpur airport with a toxic nerve agent in a cold war-style hit The attorney general agreed last month to withdraw the charge against her Indonesian co-defendant, Siti Aisyah

She has been on trial since 2017 for the murder of Kim Jong-nam at Kuala Lumpur airport with a toxic nerve agent in a cold war-style hit

The attorney general agreed last month to withdraw the charge against her Indonesian co-defendant, Siti Aisyah