KUALA LUM PUR — A Malaysian court on Thursday announced it would temporarily postpone the trial of Vietnamese citizen Đoàn Thị Hương, a suspect in the murder of a North Korean national in 2017, due to her health condition, Vietnam News Agency reports.

The trial had been scheduled to open today.

The decision was made to allow Hương to take a rest after she showed signs of mental disorder, according to Azmi Ariffin, Judge of the Shah Alam High Court of Selangor State of Malaysia.

The trial is now expected to begin on April 1.

Hương, 30, is charged with killing a North Korean national whose passport name was Kim Chol by smearing his face with an illegal chemical poison at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on February 13, 2017.

The other former suspect in the case, 27-year-old Indonesian Siti Aisyah, was released from custody on Monday after the court dropped the murder charge against her without explanation.

After the trial was postponed, Hương met with Vietnamese Ambassador to Malaysia Lê Quý Quỳnh. She thanked the Party, State and the Vietnamese Embassy in Malaysia for their help and support.

Hương said she was innocent and wished to continue receiving support from relevant agencies.

Ambassador Quỳnh said lawyers and the Vietnamese Embassy would try their best to support Hương and that the Vietnamese Government and Embassy hope the Malaysian court will give Hương a fair trial and quickly release her from custody.

Earlier, Hương’s lawyer asked the Ministry of Justice and the Attorney General of Malaysia to release her after the Indonesian suspect had been freed.

At a trial in August 2018, the Malaysian court declared they had collected sufficient evidence to indicate the two women and four North Korean suspects who fled the country had taken part in a scheme to murder the man. — VNS