Korean Murder Suspect in Honduras Released on Bail
By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
A 26-year-old Korean woman who is suspected of abetting in the murder of a Dutch woman in Honduras has been released on bail, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Tuesday.
Han Ji-soo, a dive master trainee at the time, has been detained in the Central American country for about three months. She denies the charge leveled against her.
``A Honduran court accepted a petition filed by her lawyer, Monday,'' a ministry official said, requesting anonymity. ``So, she was released on bail of $10,000.''
She is likely to stay there without detention to undergo further questioning, he said.
``Her case is expected to go to trial in February,'' the official said.
According to Han, Mariska Esmeralda Mast, a Dutch backpacker, was injured in a fall, and died a day later in the house Han was sharing with Australian scuba diving instructor, Daniel Ian Ross, the official said.
After being released following police questioning, Han left for Egypt to work as a diving instructor.
Last August, she was on her way home to Korea but Interpol detained her and sent her to Honduras where an arrest warrant naming her as an accomplice of Ross ― who had gone missing ― had been issued.
Han has denied the charge and a cyber campaign to free her is underway at www.freejisoo.org.
The ministry dispatched two officials to Honduras late last month to oversee the investigation and trial, the official said.
It also asked Honduras to allow Han to post bail, he said.