Malaysian prosecutors drops murder charge against Vietnamese woman in DPRK man's murder case

SHAH ALAM, Malaysia, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's prosecutors said Monday that they would drop the murder charge against Doan Thi Huong, a Vietnamese woman, for the death of a man from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) at a Malaysian airport in 2017.

The hearings on Huong's case resumed on high court here, when the prosecutors said they would alternate the charge to "voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means" as instructed by the Attorney-General from the murder charge which carry mandatory capital punishment if convicted.

The alternation of charges came following the rejection by Malaysia's Attorney-General to drop the murder charge against Huong in March, despite Malaysian prosecutors have withdrawn the murder charge against Siti Aisyah, an Indonesia woman who was charged together with Huong in the case.

Both women were accused of killing a DPRK man by smearing VX nerve agent on the man's face at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in February 2017. They have both denied the charges.

Siti Aisyah was released on March 11 after the charge against her was dropped.