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 Editorials | Issues | March 2008 
Mexican Judge has Ruling Ready Before Defence Presents Case
 Charles Rusnell - The Edmonton Journal
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| | Brenda Martin could face 15 more years in jail if convicted of money laundering and conspiracy. She says she is innocent. (CBC) | | |
Edmonton - The Mexican criminal court judge who will decide the fate of a Canadian woman imprisoned without trial for two years has already written his judgment, even though Brenda Martin's lawyers have yet to file their defence.
Martin said the same Mexican justice official who charged her in February 2006 gave her unsolicited legal advice on Monday.
The official, Mexico's deputy attorney general, warned Martin that if she appeals a recent ruling that found her legal rights had not been breached, it will needlessly delay the resolution of her case by many months.
"How is Brenda supposed to have any chance of getting a fair trial in Mexico?" asked Deb Tieleman, Martin's childhood friend.
Tieleman said she confirmed Martin's version of the meeting through a call to Robin Dubeau, Canada's consul general in Mexico City.
Dubeau was present when Martin met with Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos on Monday and confirmed the judge in the criminal case has already written his ruling.
In an interview Wednesday, Martin said Santiago berated her and derided her Mexican-Canadian lawyer. All this was done in the presence of Dubeau, who did not ensure Martin had legal representation for the meeting.
Several calls and e-mails to the office of Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier were not returned Wednesday.
"I think he (Santiago) was trying to intimidate me," Martin said. "He told me I had no grounds for my amparo (constitutional challenge), and I said I didn't believe him. I said my lawyer wrote an amparo that proved my rights had been breached and I had done nothing wrong."
"They had no intention of ever granting my amparo," Martin said. "Who is this little man with all the power to keep me in prison? Why is he doing this to me? I did nothing wrong and they are killing me in here."
Martin said she became so angry she stormed out of the meeting. The warden later sent her back to the general prison population from the prison hospital, where she had been on suicide watch for four days.
Martin's lawyer, Guillermo Cruz Rico, filed a constitutional challenge in January seeking to have charges of money laundering and being part of a criminal conspiracy thrown out because his client's legal rights were breached under both Mexican and international law.
He argued Martin was never provided with an approved translator, either during the police investigation or the court process. Martin should have been told she was a suspect and given a chance to consult a lawyer before she gave two statements to police. Though Martin was told she was only a witness, her statements were used to charge her.
On Wednesday, former prime minister Paul Martin spent 45 minutes visiting the prisoner, who is no relation.
Martin is in Mexico for meetings aimed at expanding the G8 to include 12 more countries, including Mexico. He said he visited the jailed Canadian to comfort her and assure her that many Canadians were concerned about her case.
Brenda Martin worked for 10 months in 2001 as a chef in Puerto Vallarta for former Edmontonian Alyn Waage. He pleaded guilty in 2003 and is serving a 10-year sentence in a North Carolina prison. On Feb. 17, 2006, five years after Waage's arrest, Martin was grabbed off the street by Mexican federal police and charged. She has denied any knowledge of or involvement in the scheme.
Waage has sworn an affidavit for Mexican authorities supporting Martin's contention.
crusnell(at)thejournal.canwest.com |
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