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 Editorials | Issues | March 2008 
Amnesty International Enters Fray on Behalf of Brenda Martin
 Jeremy Ashley - The Intelligencer
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| | Amnesty International, the world's most vocal human rights advocate, has entered the fray on behalf of the imprisoned Brenda Martin. | | |
Amnesty International, the world's most vocal human rights advocate, has entered the fray on behalf of the imprisoned Brenda Martin, The Intelligencer has learned.
The Toronto office of the not-for-profit organization delivered a letter Tuesday to Maxime Bernier, Canada's minister of Foreign Affairs, urging "Canadian authorities to use all means at your disposal to vigorously ensure that Brenda Martin's right to due process is respected."
The letter was written by Kathy Price, who specializes in Mexican issues on behalf of Amnesty International Canada.
"We have received dozens of messages from concerned Canadians about the situation of Ms. Martin, urgently asking us to take up her case," Price wrote, adding her organization is "deeply concerned about widespread miscarriages of justice and violations of the right to due process within Mexico's criminal justice system."
Given the state of the Mexican justice system, Price asked Bernier to inform her organization of the "steps taken by Canadian officials to press for justice and human rights with regard to the treatment of Brenda Martin in Mexico."
Since garnering the spotlight of the national media earlier this year, the profile of the Martin case has been raised substantially - and foreign affairs officials have increasingly come under fire from Martin supporters, who cry foul to claims they have lobbied on the Trenton woman's behalf with Mexican authorities.
"It's something that we've had a number of calls about," said Elizabeth Burton-Hunter, who works at the Toronto Amnesty office, when asked about Martin's ordeal.
While the organization is "not taking up the case directly" there are a number of concerns with the process in which justice is dolled out in the developing nation.
"We have a number of cases (of injustice) in Mexico, this is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the number of cases we know about," she said, adding the majority of cases involve Mexicans, not Canadians.
Amnesty's role in the Martin case is somewhat limited given two reasons, she explained: a lack of resources and the fact the matter is currently before a criminal court.
At the conclusion of Martin's trial, however, if there "is a miscarriage of justice, then of course we will get involved," she pledged.
John Tackaberry, who works out of Amnesty's Ottawa office, echoed Burton-Hunter's comments.
Calling Martin's plight "a serious case, especially when she's so ill," Tackaberry reiterated Amnesty's limited part in the process.
"It's a criminal justice matter, essentially. She has been charged and is going to court."
"We have been concerned about the criminal justice system in Mexico for quite some time and there does seem to be delays in this case, but we haven't made representation specifically on her case ourselves. But we are keeping a close eye on the situation down there."
jashley(at)intelligencer.ca
Diplomatic Note May Help Canadian in Mexican Jail
CTV.ca
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Ottawa has sent a diplomatic note to the Mexican government, in the hopes of clearing the way for an imprisoned Canadian woman to return home, CTV News has learned.
Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier has also appealed to his Mexican counterpart for the woman's release.
Brenda Martin, 51, has been inside a Mexican prison for the past two years. On Monday, she was transferred to the hospital ward and placed under a suicide watch, after a constitutional challenge to her continued imprisonment was denied.
"She fluctuates between being extremely withdrawn ... to begging and pleading for somebody, anybody, to please help her," said Debra Tieleman, a friend.
"Mentally, she's really a mess ... I don't know how much more of this she can take."
Martin, a native of Trenton, Ont., has been charged in connection with a fraud carried out by former boss Alyn Richard Waage.
Martin has proclaimed her innocence and Waage backs that claim. Although Martin has been charged with money laundering, she has not yet been tried or convicted.
Tieleman said Martin was initially interrogated by "federales (federal police) without benefit of either a lawyer or interpreter." That claim was the focus of Martin's constitutional challenge to have her charges dismissed.
Canada's secretary of state for foreign affairs, Helena Guergis, has said Canada can't interfere with Mexico's judicial system.
But she said she has spoken with Mexico's ambassador to Canada, to voice her concerns over the length of Martin's imprisonment. |
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