Vietnam’s call followed Monday’s release, at Indonesia’s request, of an Indonesian woman who had been accused along with the Vietnamese, Doan Thi Huong.
Doan and Siti Aisyah were charged with killing Jong Nam by smearing his face with VX poison, a banned chemical weapon, at klia2 in February 2017.
“It’s our complaint that the public prosecution has not acted fairly and justly to Doan Thi Huong,” said her lawyer, Hisyam Teh, who asked for an adjournment on the grounds that his client was unwell.
Hisyam told the court the rejection of Vietnam’s request was “perverse”, and a case of discrimination, as the attorney-general had favoured one party over another, since the court had ordered both to enter their defence.
Vietnam’s ministers of justice and foreign affairs are communicating with their Malaysian counterparts to secure his client’s release, Hisyam added.
After the ruling, Doan was seen sobbing as she spoke with Vietnamese embassy officials, before being whisked away by police.
Prosecutors had sprung a surprise on Monday by asking the court to drop the charge against Siti Aisyah and free her. The Indonesian embassy flew her to Jakarta the same day.
The trial featured closed-circuit television images of two women allegedly assaulting Jong Nam while he prepared to check in for a flight.
Defence lawyers have maintained the women were pawns in an assassination orchestrated by North Korean agents. The North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur was defaced with graffiti just hours before the trial was to resume.
Interpol had issued a red notice for four North Koreans identified as suspects by police who had left the country hours after the murder.
Jong Nam had lived in exile in Macau for several years before the killing, having fled his homeland after his half-brother became North Korea’s leader in 2011 following their father’s death.
Some South Korean lawmakers said the North Korean regime had ordered the assassination of Jong Nam, who had been critical of his family’s dynastic rule. Pyongyang has denied this.