"Donald Bayne intends to argue that it is unfair to use the French handwriting report in extradition proceedings against Diab since he will not be allowed to call his own defence experts to rebut the French handwriting findings should he stand trial in France. That would violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Bayne said.
The French say Diab was a key player in a terrorist bombing outside a Paris synagogue in 1980 and want the Lebanon-born Canadian citizen to stand trial in Paris for murder and attempted murder.
The new legal challenge comes after a decision last week where Ontario Superior Court Justice Robert Maranger allowed the French handwriting evidence to remain in the case, despite his concerns that the French material was confusing and reached suspect conclusions."
REPORTER ANDREW SEYMOUR: OTTAWA CITIZEN;
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"OTTAWA — The lawyer for alleged synagogue bomber Hassan Diab plans a new legal challenge to throw out handwriting evidence that France says links the Ottawa university professor to a 1980 terrorist blast," the Ottawa Citizen story by reporter Andrew Seymour published earlier today begins, under the heading, "Accused bomber’s lawyer brings Charter challenge against French handwriting evidence in extradition case."
"Donald Bayne intends to argue that it is unfair to use the French handwriting report in extradition proceedings against Diab since he will not be allowed to call his own defence experts to rebut the French handwriting findings should he stand trial in France. That would violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Bayne said," the story continues.
"The French say Diab was a key player in a terrorist bombing outside a Paris synagogue in 1980 and want the Lebanon-born Canadian citizen to stand trial in Paris for murder and attempted murder.
The new legal challenge comes after a decision last week where Ontario Superior Court Justice Robert Maranger allowed the French handwriting evidence to remain in the case, despite his concerns that the French material was confusing and reached suspect conclusions.
In his decision, Maranger said excluding the evidence would violate the Extradition Act if he imposed Canadian standards of evidence admissibility to foreign evidence. The law essentially requires Canadian judges in extradition proceedings to take foreign evidence at face value unless it’s plainly unreliable.
The judge also said that three competing opinions from defence handwriting experts about the reliability of French expert Anne Bisotti’s conclusions were a matter for trial and not the extradition hearing.
Federal prosecutors Claude LeFrançois and Jeffrey Johnston opposed Bayne’s latest motion Wednesday, arguing that there was no merit to it.
LeFrançois argued that the case has been dragging on for too long and there needed to a time limit for concluding arguments “to prevent this hearing from becoming another Schreiber.” (The extradition process for Karlheinz Schreiber, a businessman implicated in an ethics probe of former prime minister Brian Mulroney and wanted for tax evasion in Germany, lasted 10 years. Diab’s case has now stretched more than two years.)
“There has to be an end to this,” said LeFrancois.
Maranger said he will hear Bayne’s application on Monday and hoped all the arguments in the case would be completed by March 4."
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The story can be found at:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/Accused+bomber+lawyer+brings+Charter+challenge+against+French+handwriting+evidence+extradition+case/4334316/story.html
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be accessed at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith
For a breakdown of some of the cases, issues and controversies this Blog is currently following, please turn to:
http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=120008354894645705&postID=8369513443994476774
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog; hlevy15@gmail.com;
