No laws breached in Jong Nam murder probe, says lawyer
North Korea has no right to call for the release of citizens of other countries, says lawyer N Sivananthan.
KUALA LUMPUR: A panel lawyer with the International Criminal Court said today Malaysian police had not breached any law in carrying out the investigation into the murder of North Korean Kim Jong Nam.
N Sivananthan said police were right to follow local laws although the victim and suspects were foreigners.
“Just like any murder case, police can detain suspects for a maximum 14 days and then decide to charge or release them,” he told FMT.
Sivananthan said this in response to the demand by the North Korean embassy here that three suspects detained in connection with the murder be released immediately.
A Vietnamese woman, an Indonesian woman and a North Korean man were “arrested unreasonably”, the embassy said in a statement yesterday.
Sivananthan, who was appointed by the Philippine government to represent its citizens in connection with the Lahad Datu armed intrusion in 2013, said North Korea had no right to call for the release of the two women suspects.
He said Malaysia had the right to deport any foreigner after investigations even though no charges were framed.
“The Immigration director-general has the power to cancel their visa or deport them if their travel documents are not in order,” he added.
Jong Nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, was killed at Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (klia2) on Feb 13 while preparing to board a flight to Macau.
A woman was reported to have sprayed a liquid at him while another covered his face with a piece of cloth.
In a strongly-worded statement, the North Korean embassy said investigations into Jong Nam’s killing should have focused on determining the cause of death and the two female suspects.
Instead, it said, Malaysian authorities had only “targeted” the North Korean suspect, Ri Jong Chol, who was arrested on Feb 17.
The embassy also accused Malaysia of relying on South Korea to confirm the identity of the victim.
“The action of requesting for the presence of the victim’s next of kin for the purpose of identification and a DNA test took no regard of our confirmation of the identity of the deceased DPRK citizen.”
North Korea had earlier identified the victim as Kim Chol, the name under which Jong Nam had been travelling.
The embassy said this was extremely insulting to the republic, “an illegal act infringing on international laws and customs and diplomatic privileges” and proof that Malaysia was siding with South Korea.
The embassy also questioned police findings that the two female suspects had known it was a poison attack and not a prank.
The four detained so far are a Vietnamese named Doan Thi Huong, an Indonesian named Siti Aisyah, a Malaysian named Muhammad Farid Jallaludin and a North Korean named Ri Jong Chul.
Four other male suspects, all North Korean, fled the country on the same day of the murder, police said.
They have been identified as Ri Ji Hyon, Hong Song Hac, O Jong Gil and Ri Jae Nam.
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Malaysian police are also seeking to question a senior official in the North Korean embassy and a staff at its state airline over the murder.