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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | April 2008 
Martin's Release From Mexican Prison Snarled in Red Tape
 Charles Rusnell - Canwest News Service
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| "How can Canada put me in prison when I am innocent and I have been convicted by a corrupt justice system where they have clearly stated they have no evidence?"
Brenda Martin | | |
Guadalajara, Mexico - Mexican justice officials appear to have cleared the way for convicted Canadian Brenda Martin to get out of their country by the end of today.
But the Mexican government is insisting Canada must abide by an international prisoner transfer treaty that will delay her return by up to two weeks, Martin's friend and designated advocate, Deb Tieleman, said Thursday in Guadalajara.
Abiding by the treaty may also force Canada to imprison Martin in her home country, a possibility that frustrates and confuses Martin.
"How can Canada put me in prison when I am innocent and I have been convicted by a corrupt justice system where they have clearly stated they have no evidence?" Martin said in an interview from Puente Grande Women's Prison in Guadalajara.
Tieleman raised that same point during a conference call Thursday with senior officials from the Correctional Service of Canada and Canada's embassy in Mexico City. She previously had been told by Martin's lawyer, Guillermo Cruz Rico, that Mexican officials were not seeking any jail time for Martin in Canada.
"I told them I understand we must follow the terms of the . . . convention (on international prison transfers) in spite of the fact that Mexico violated Brenda's rights under international law, and even Mexican law," she said. "But a deal should be worked out with Mexico to ensure Brenda does not spend a minute in a Canadian prison."
A senior Canadian official told Tieleman that Canada cannot consider the quality of justice Martin received in Mexico in working out the terms of the transfer.
Pressure to return the 51-year-old former resident of Trenton, Ont. to Canada as quickly as possible seems to be also coming from Mexican justice and prison officials, who have been flailed by intense and negative media publicity in Mexico and Canada.
Martin told Canwest News Service she was visiting with Tieleman on Wednesday when they received an unplanned visit from the prison warden, the court translator and a lawyer notifier for the judge. The Mexican justice system employs notifiers to inform prisoners of developments in their cases.
Martin said the warden told her the Mexican justice system had cleared all bureaucratic hurdles to get her out of Mexico today.
"The warden said all the paperwork had been completed by the PGR (federal Mexican prosecution) and was in Mexico City but it was the Canadian government that was holding things up," Martin said Thursday.
Negotiations have been ongoing since Martin's conviction on Tuesday and Canadian consular officials have been working non-stop to finalize all the necessary transfer documents.
"If they get this done I believe it will be the fastest prisoner transfer in Canadian history," said Tieleman, who Martin designated to represent her in the negotiations along with her lawyer, Guillermo Cruz Rico of Toronto.
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 Cdn. 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 guilty verdict stunned Tieleman and Martin because they had been told by a senior official with the Mexican embassy in Ottawa that Martin would be found innocent and immediately released.
The judge however, accepted the prosecution's contention that although it had no direct evidence that Martin 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; the prosecution is not obliged to prove guilt.
The judge provided no reasons for his verdict. Instead, he provided consular officials with a written judgment on Tuesday.
That document, which runs to more than 500 pages, must be translated into English because Corrections officials must, under the transfer treaty, determine what a similar charge and sentence would be in Canada and apply it to Martin.
Foreign Affairs has said a "small army" of translators is at work on the document, which was sent overnight from Guadalajara to Ottawa Tuesday. The translation is expected to be completed by early next week.
Martin may, or may not, have to serve some jail time when she eventually returns to Canada. Either way, Corrections officials told Tieleman she will be handcuffed and returned to Canada like any other convicted criminal. The date of her return will be kept secret for security reasons, Tieleman was told.
Martin also requires an extensive security check before she is allowed back into the country and Corrections officials personally delivered documents on Wednesday to Martin's mother, Marjorie Bletcher in Trenton.
Tieleman is to meet with Jason Kenney, the Secretary of State for Multiculturalism, on Friday morning and they will later visit Martin in prison.
After more than two years in a Mexican prison, an exhausted Martin wonders when she will finally set foot on Canadian soil and whether she will be imprisoned for a crime she still maintains she never committed.
"I can't believe this has happened to me," Martin said. "How can this happen to an innocent person?"
Liberal MP Dan McTeague, who has been lobbying on Martin's behalf, blamed the Conservative government for the delay in her release.
"Mexicans are offering her up, why aren't we taking her? What are we waiting for?" he said. "I fully expect Mr. Kenney to be walking out with her (today). There's no other reason why anyone would want to delay this."
"I hope it's not a photo op for Jason Kenney."
He said Martin has suggested Mexico is waiting for Canada to pay her fine. Tieleman has confirmed the fine has been paid already. |
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