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 Editorials | Opinions | April 2008 
Yell about Brenda
 Lynne Cohen - Citizen Special
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As Canada's former director general of consular affairs, you'd expect Gar Pardy to defend his former colleagues' efforts on behalf of Brenda Martin, a distressed citizen abroad ("Don't throw stones at Mexico," March 28). Instead, his column reads like a brief on behalf the Mexican government.
He says her case has "precedents," specifically the 1989 case of David Spencer and Christine Lamont, the two Canadians who received 30-year sentences in Brazil for kidnapping.
He complains Canadians, especially the press, are "breast-beating" and "demonizing" the "evil and corrupt" foreign judicial system, writing "hysterical" editorials and letters, and involving officials of both governments.
Mr. Pardy is comparing apples to pitted cherries. Mr. Spencer and Ms. Lamont were both tried and convicted within months of their December 1989 arrests. Ms. Martin, who has been languishing in deplorable conditions in a Mexican prison for 25 months and counting, has yet to be tried.
He is right. We do not know if she is guilty. So let's get on with the trial. Based on what we do know - she could have played only a tiny part in the Internet fraud scheme she is accused of helping run - surely this poor woman has done her time as if she were guilty.
If she had had a trial and been found guilty and sentenced, then I would reluctantly agree that beyond consular visits and some international monitoring, a foreigner in prison does not deserve much help or sympathy. You are basically on your own, no matter how unfair and disgusting the conditions are by Canadian standards. (This is why I, personally, don't do Third World, ever.)
Mr. Pardy insinuates Ms. Martin, who is charged with conspiring with her former boss Alyn Richard Waage and others, is spending a lot of pre-trial time in prison just like her co-conspirators did in the U.S. They were extradited soon after being arrested in 2001. Mr. Pardy says they "(a)ll spent years in prison before trial," as if this is no big deal.
He may be right that they did, but it is a huge deal. And in fact, their long waits in prison were not because of deficiencies in the U.S. justice system. Indeed, in the U.S., as in Canada, the right to a speedy trial is fundamental and constitutional. Thus, long trial delays are virtually only possible if requested by the defence. Moreover, defendants are always credited with time served when sentenced.
Mr. Pardy points out that both U.S. and Canadian police were likely involved in the investigation that broke up the conspiracy. In fact, this is why Mr. Waage is in a U.S. prison. This strongly suggests that if there was any solid evidence against Brenda, she wouldn't be sitting in a Mexican prison; rather, she would have long ago been extradited to where many of the 15,000 victims of the Internet swindle live, the U.S. or Canada.
What about bail? Mr. Pardy writes that countries normally do not grant bail to foreign nationals accused of committing crimes. Fair enough, but then why was Mr. Waage granted bail by Mexican authorities after being caught red-handed at the airport in Puerto Vallarta in 2001 with $4.5 million in cash and a private plane? Is it possible that Mr. Waage had more than the $4.5 million that was reported, and that some of the extra cash smoothed the wheels of Mexican justice for him?
Mr. Waage himself, who is serving his 10-year sentence in North Carolina, has sworn up and down that Ms. Martin was not involved, and that the only reason she remains in jail in Mexico is because he (Mr. Waage) did not pay off a certain prosecutor. It's funny how we are quick to accept the word of criminals who testify against other criminals in return for lighter sentences, but we dismiss similar testimony when it exonerates someone, even if it is apparently given without a quid pro quo.
If calmly assessing the facts and asking hard questions is being "hysterical" and "hypocritical" - as Gar Pardy suggests - then I am guilty as charged.
In the meantime, all I can say is: Keep up the breast-beating and demonizing, Canadians.
Lynne Cohen is an Ottawa lawyer and journalist. |
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