Jong-nam murder trial postponed

SHAH ALAM: The Kim Jong-nam murder trial was postponed to tomorrow after the main witness, chemistry expert Dr Raja Subramaniam, complained of exhaustion.
The hearing was postponed as the judge along with the prosecution and defence team was at the Chemistry Department in Petaling Jaya to show the evidence that was sent to Raja for testing, including shreds of a shirt bearing the letters "LOL" that belonged to one of the accused, Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong.
Raja appealed to judge Datuk Azmi Ariffin to postpone the hearing after having spent more than two hours in the department.
Earlier, the heavily-armed police entourage entered the department's compound approximately at 9am through the back entrance for security reasons.
Members of the media, local and foreign alike, had staked out the premises out since morning, with some arriving as early as 7:30am.
Azmi had declared last Thursday that today's session would be an "open court" where both the accused along with their lawyers would need to be present.
Jong-nam was at klia2 on Feb 13 to board a flight to Macau when two women approached and suddenly wiped his face with toxic liquid which was later identified as the VX nerve agent.
VX (nerve agent) poison as well as its precursor and degradation elements were discovered on the clothing items of both murder accused Siti Aisyah, 25, and Doan Thi Huong, 29, the trial revealed.
Jong-nam, who travelled with a passport bearing the name of Kim Chol, died while on the way to the Putrajaya Hospital. He arrived in the country on Feb 6.
Doan and Indonesian Siti Aisyah have been charged with the murder.
The murder charge under Section 302 of the Penal Code carries the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.