Trial in Kim murder visits lab to examine VX-tainted clothes

Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong (centre) is escorted by police as she arrives at a laboratory in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Monday. (AP Photo)

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian court holding the trial of two women accused of killing the estranged half-brother of North Korea's leader moved temporarily Monday to a high-security laboratory to view the VX-tainted clothes the suspects wore the day of the attack.

Judges often visit crime scenes in Malaysia, and in this case the move was made after government chemist Raja Subramaniam testified last week that the VX nerve agent he found on the women's clothing may still be active.

His testimony was the first evidence linking VX to Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Doan Thi Huong of Vietnam, who are accused of smearing the nerve agent on Kim Jong Nam's face in a Kuala Lumpur airport terminal on Feb 13.

Selvi Sandrasegaram, one of the lawyers for Ms Siti, said Mr Raja spent more than an hour showing VX-tainted evidence from a small room inside the laboratory at the chemist department.

Ms Selvi said she was also in the room, along with Ms Huong and two police officers, while the others watched through a glass screen outside the room. She said Ms Huong wanted to go into the room to have a closer look at the evidence, which included her fingernail clippings and white jumper emblazoned with the “LOL” acronym for “laughing out loud”.

A Royal Malaysia Police (RMP) officer stands guard at the Malaysia Chemistry Department in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, on Monday. (EPA photo)

Mr Raja had also testified last week that VX was detected on Kim Jong Nam's face, eyes, clothing, and in his blood and urine samples. That evidence was introduced in court in sealed bags, but the visit to the laboratory was arranged so the evidence from the women could be taken out of the bags for viewing.

The trial was originally due to resume after lunch at the court building but the judge deferred it after Mr Raja complained he was exhausted, Ms Selvi said.

Mr Raja will be cross-examined by defence lawyers when the trial resumes on Tuesday.

Prosecutors have also said that they will present airport security videos this week that show the two women carrying out the attack and indicate they knew they were handling poison.

Defence lawyers have said the women were duped by suspected North Korean agents into believing they were playing a harmless prank for a hidden TV-camera show.

The two women pleaded not guilty at the start of their trial last week to charges of murder that carry a mandatory death sentence if they are convicted.

Kim, the eldest son in the current generation of North Korea's dynastic rulers, was believed to be a family outcast who may have been perceived as a threat by the nation's leader, his youngest sibling Kim Jong Un.

VX is banned by an international treaty as a weapon of mass destruction but is believed to be part of North Korea's chemical weapons arsenal.

Earlier report

(Video YouTube/Washington Post)