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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | April 2008 
Kenney Meets With Jailed Canadian in Mexico
 Charles Rusnell - Canwest News Service
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| | Brenda Martin met with Minister of State Jason Kenny on Friday in the women's prison in Mexico. (Global) | | |
Guadalajara, Mexico - Jason Kenney, Canada's secretary of state for multiculturalism, met with Brenda Martin on Friday afternoon in the women's prison in Mexico, where the convicted Canadian is still being held.
The minister was also in the country to meet with Canadian and Mexican officials in order to "sort out the logistics" of Martin's transfer back to Canada, Kenney's executive assistant, Alykhan Velshi, told Martin's friend, Deb Tieleman in an e-mail Wednesday.
Mexican justice officials appear to have cleared the way for Martin to get out of their country, but the Mexican government is insisting Canada must abide by an international prisoner transfer treaty that could delay her return by up to two weeks, Tieleman said Thursday in Guadalajara.
A Mexican judge on 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.
Meanwhile, Martin's lawyer said he's shocked by the reasoning used by the judge to find her guilty and sentence her to five years in prison.
"It is unbelievable," Guillermo Cruz Rico said Friday from his Toronto office. "I am just shocked at how the judge could find her criminally responsible based on the evidence that he cites."
Cruz said Judge Luis Nunez Sandoval took the allegations made by the police and the prosecutors in their original arrest warrant issued for Martin on Aug. 23, 2003, and accepted them verbatim as reason for convicting her.
"All he has done is taken the same allegations that were written by the PGR (federal prosecutors)," Cruz said. "It is all the same arguments."
The judge also relied heavily on voluntary statements made to police by Martin in 2001 and 2002.
Cruz previously had failed to have the charge against Martin thrown out on the grounds Martin was never told she was a suspect when she provided the statements. She was not given the option of having a lawyer present and she was not provided with a translator.
Cruz said all of those were violations of Martin's rights under both international and Mexican law.
Cruz said Sandoval completely rejected Martin's defence. He said the amount of money she received as a chef - $500 per week - was excessive. The judge also said the severance she received - $26,000 - after she was fired was also excessive.
"He said the defence was not credible because she failed to mention in her statement that she had worked full-time for Waage."
The judge also dismissed as not credible a sworn affidavit by Waage in support of Martin.
Abiding by the prison transfer 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. |
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