"Bayne picked up on Maranger’s doubts about the Bisotti report and told the court Monday that Diab is in a Catch-22 situation with the handwriting because it would be accepted without question at a French trial.
He urged Maranger to “protect the liberty of this Canadian citizen against injustice.
“He can’t get it considered here; it won’t be considered in France,” added Bayne. “A judge cannot bury his had in the sand and say, ‘It’s not my problem’.”"
REPORTER CHRIS COBB; THE OTTAWA CITIZEN;
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"OTTAWA — Lawyers for accused terrorist Hassan Diab made a last-ditch effort Monday to get key handwriting evidence disallowed," the Ottawa Citizen story by reporter Chris Cobb published earlier today begins, under the heading, "Accused synagogue bomber Diab in a ‘Catch-22” with bad French evidence: defence lawyer."
"Justice Robert Maranger has already ruled that French handwriting evidence — dubbed the “smoking gun” by prosecutors — can be used in the extradition case against Diab." the story continues.
"But Maranger also said that he found the evidence “problematic” and “confusing” with “suspect conclusions,” but it would violate Canada’s extradition agreement with France if he imposed Canadian standards of evidence on its admissibility.
Diab’s lawyer Donald Bayne had called three internationally renowned experts who were all critical of a forensic report produced by French expert Anne Bisotti.
“When all is said and done, I find that the evidence amounted to very strong competing inferences which demonstrate some serious weaknesses in the Bisotti report but in truth fell short of a finding of manifest unreliability,” said Maranger.
“While I find the Bisotti report very problematic, very confusing, with conclusions that are suspect, I cannot say that it should be rejected out of hand based on the expert evidence,” the judge added.
Former University of Ottawa professor Diab is wanted by the French, who claim he was a key player in a terrorist bombing outside a Paris synagogue in 1980. They want the Lebanon-born Canadian citizen to stand trial in Paris on charges of murder and attempted murder.
The handwriting evidence compares a signature in a Paris hotel register with samples of Diab’s later handwriting.
The French say they match, but all of Bayne’s three experts said the analysis is incompetent.
Bayne picked up on Maranger’s doubts about the Bisotti report and told the court Monday that Diab is in a Catch-22 situation with the handwriting because it would be accepted without question at a French trial.
He urged Maranger to “protect the liberty of this Canadian citizen against injustice.
“He can’t get it considered here; it won’t be considered in France,” added Bayne. “A judge cannot bury his had in the sand and say, ‘It’s not my problem’.”
Crown lawyer Jeffrey Johnston, citing case history, said it isn’t the role of a Canadian extradition judge to consider foreign law and that under the Extradition Act, foreign justice systems must be presumed fair.
The case continues."
The story can be found at:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Accused+synagogue+bomber+Diab+Catch+with+French+evidence+defence+lawyer/4361482/story.html
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;
