Liberal Party Releases Statement On Brenda Martin’s Trial
Posted April 22, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The federal Liberal party released a statement following Brenda Martin’s guilty verdict. The full text follows.
Martin Must Be Brought To Canada Immediately Under Transfer of Offender Treaty
Dan McTeague, Official Opposition Critic for Consular Affairs, is calling upon the Conservative Government to move swiftly to have Brenda Martin transferred to Canada under the existing transfer of offender treaty between the two countries.
“Brenda Martin was denied basic legal rights by a Mexican judicial system that has provided anything but justice with this ruling today. The travesty is continuing and it is now up to the Canadian government to just once stand up for this citizen and get Ms. Martin home as soon as possible”, said McTeague.
“Brenda Martin’s government abandoned her for much of the two years she was incarcerated and then bungled any effort to pressure Mexico for her release. Today’s ruling from what passes for a court in Mexico makes it very clear that the lack of evidence against Ms. Martin couldn’t overcome the need to cover up the farce of the prosecution’s case against her. In New Orleans today, Prime Minister Harper rubbed salt into the wound by stating how much Canadians love to travel to Mexico in winter. What a total disgrace”, said McTeague.
“Ms. Martin is a pawn in a judicial fraud that has been abetted by the gross inaction of the Canadian government. Growing media attention and public pressure forced the Conservative government to at least pay lip service to the case. Minister after minister took up the façade but did nothing to give Ms. Martin any means to defend herself let alone receive a fair trial. In fact, rather than stand up for Ms. Martin, the Conservative government let erroneous and damaging personal information on her be released to the media” added McTeague.
“The Privacy Commissioner is investigating the horrendous leak that was aimed to paint Ms. Martin as a person deserving of her misfortune and to cover the government’s dismal efforts to assist her. Ms. Martin’s rights were violated in Mexico and they have been violated here in Canada by her own government. Now is the time for the government to do one thing right and get Ms. Martin transferred to Canada quickly”, concluded McTeague.
Image courtesy Dan McTeague’s website.
