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 Editorials | Issues | April 2008 
End May Be in Sight for Brenda Martin
 Charles Rusnell - Edmonton Journal
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| | Mexican judge promises Brenda Martin he will try to rule by April 18. | | |
The final hearing for Brenda Martin, the Canadian woman jailed in Mexico without trial for two years, will be held Monday.
The judge promised Martin and the Canadian ambassador to Mexico that he would try to issue a ruling by April 18.
"The judge told me had 38 days from the final hearing to make his ruling, but he said he would try expedite the decision by Friday," Martin said in an interview with the Edmonton Journal today.
"I pleaded with the judge. I held his hand and pleaded with him. I told him I have suffered enough. I said. 'I am innocent and I want to see my mother. Please let me go.' " Under Mexican law, legal hearings are not open to the public. The judge meets in private with the prosecutor, the defence lawyer and the accused.
The judge added the proviso that he may not be able to make the decision on the April 18 if something unforeseen arose.
"But the ambassador said he would be reporting back to his country that the decision would be made on Friday (April 18), and he said if there wasn't a decision, guilty or not guilty, there would be two consular officials from Mexico City in the judge's chambers first thing on Monday to find out when there would be a decision."
Martin has been imprisoned since Feb. 17, 2006, charged with knowingly accepting illicit funds from a $60-million Internet-based fraud operated by former Edmonton resident Alyn Waage. Martin, who worked as a chef for Waage, has professed her innocence and Waage swore a supporting affidavit.
In an attempt to gain her freedom, Martin's lawyer, Guillermo Cruz Rico, had suggested that Mexican authorities could allow her to plead guilty to the lesser charge of unknowingly accepting illicit funds, a charge that carries a jail sentence of three months to three years, and release her for time served.
But Martin said the judge flatly rejected that option today and said she faces a minimum of five years in prison if convicted. Even if found not guilty, she may not be released because the prosecutor in the case has five days to appeal the decision. In Mexico the accused stay in prison while they await the appeal, and Martin said she was told that could take three to six months.
The Mexicans have also rejected using the president's authority under the constitution to simply expel her from the country as an undesirable, another option put forward by her lawyer and her supporters.
Today's hearing came as a complete surprise to Martin, who was not represented by her lawyer. She said she knew the Canadian ambassador was coming from Mexico City to visit her, but it wasn't until she met with the ambassador at the Puente Grande Women's Prison on the outskirts of Guadalajara this morning that she was told she would be attending a hearing with the judge. Martin said she vomited and had to be administered a tranquilizer.
Supporters of Martin, who has suffered from failing physical and mental health, have sharply criticized the Canadian government for failing to ensure her rights were respected and not doing enough to help her. Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney assumed responsibility in January for Martin's file from colleague MP Helena Guergis.
Kenney has declined to respond to interview requests, so it's not known what efforts the government has made on Martin's behalf.
"The judge told me I should take this as a good sign," Martin said. "But I don't know. I have been made so many promises and two years later I am still here."
crusnell(at)thejournal.canwest.com |
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