| Advertisement |
April 1 (UPI) -- A Vietnamese woman was sentenced Monday to three years and four months in jail for the assassination of Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Doan Thi Huong, 30, pleaded guilty Monday after Malaysian prosecutors offered to reduce her charge from murder, which came with a mandatory death penalty sentence, to "voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means."
Advertisement
The charge came with a maximum of 10 years in prison but the Malaysian Shah Alam High Court sentenced her to a little more than three years to be served starting Feb. 15, 2017, the date of her arrest.
Huong's lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik told reporters following Huong's sentencing that she expects her client to be released from police custody the first week of May as she has already served two years of the term with the remaining one-third granted remission.
Malaysian prosecutors reduced the charge after speaking with Huong's lawyer and the Vietnamese embassy, Sky News reported.
Vietnam had been applying diplomatic pressure on Malaysia to release Huong after her co-accused Indonesian Siti Aisyah, 26, was discharged without dismissal on March 11.
Huong's lawyer had accused the Malaysian court of discrimination as both women were arrested and faced similar charges for their role in the death of Kim Jong Nam in 2017.
The women were accused of smearing a toxic nerve agent on Kim Jong Nam's face at an airport in Kuala Lumpur.
Both Huong and Aisyah have said that they believed they were taking part in a prank for a reality television show and that they had been used by North Korean agents sent out to kill Kim Jong Nam, who had been living in exile in Macau with his family.
It is believed that Kim Jong Un wanted Kim Jong Nam dead in order to solidify his claim as leader of the North Korean regime.
