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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | April 2008 
MP Visiting Martin to Aid in Transfer Home
 Charles Rusnell - Canwest News Service
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Guadalajara, Mexico - Secretary of State for Multiculturalism Jason Kenney will be arriving here Thursday to meet with imprisoned Canadian Brenda Martin, and with Canadian and Mexican officials in attempt to speed her transfer to Canada.
Kenney's executive assistant, Alykhan Velshi, told Martin's friend, Deb Tieleman, in an e-mail early Wednesday that the minister would be there to "sort out the logistics" of the transfer.
A Mexican judge Tuesday sentenced Martin to five years in prison for knowingly accepting illicit funds and fined her the equivalent of about $3,500. Martin, a chef, had worked for former Alberta resident Alyn Waage who operated a $60-million Internet based fraud scheme from a Puerto Vallarta mansion.
The judge accepted the prosecution's contention that although it had no direct evidence that Martin, now 51, had knowingly accepted the money - about $26,000 in total - there was enough circumstantial evidence to "infer" she must have known. In Mexico, accused persons must prove their innocence rather than the prosecution proving them guilty.
Martin's lawyer, Guillermo Cruz Rico, has said there was no evidence to support the charge against Martin. He said he refuted every point made by the prosecution in its 322-page final argument and he is keen to see the judge's 109-page ruling.
The ruling shocked Martin's supporters, particularly Tieleman who had received assurances from a high-ranking Mexican embassy official last week that Martin would be found innocent and would be released immediately.
Martin continued to maintain her innocence Tuesday and told Canwest News Service she believed she never had any chance of getting a fair hearing.
"I can't believe that my government would stand by and let them railroad me," Martin said. "I am innocent and everyone knows it. This was fixed from the beginning."
Martin is again on suicide watch and is refusing to eat.
Tieleman said she will participate in a conference call with Kenney, Canadian Embassy officials in Mexico City and Foreign Affairs officials at 5:30 ET to discuss what can be done to both support Martin and to her hasten her return to Canada.
Martin's legal nightmare began on Feb. 17, 2006. She had arranged to meet a potential client who apparently wanted her to cater a birthday party for his mother.
They met on a Puerto Vallarta street near her apartment. The client turned out to be an undercover police officer. He grabbed her by the wrist and several other Mexican federal police officers suddenly appeared. She was placed in a waiting vehicle.
Martin worked as a chef for Waage for 10 months until he fired her in early 2001 for insulting his elderly mother. He paid her $26,000 in severance pay and, without his knowledge, she invested about $10,000 into what she said she believed was his legitimate investment business. After Waage's arrest in April 2001, she asked him to return her investment and he complied. |
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