On the morning of the 17th local time, the Supreme Court of British Columbia, Canada, in Vancouver, opened a hearing again to hear the defense application involving procedural abuse in the Meng Wanzhou extradition case. This is the first time the case has entered the stage of procedural abuse of defense. Ms. Meng did not appear in court that day, but participated in the hearing process at home over the phone.
The court hearing is divided into two stages, public hearing and closed hearing, and it is expected to last for five days. The judge will listen to the opinions of both the prosecution and the defense and the "amicus curiae" (amicus curiae) to decide whether to further disclose the relevant evidence of the arrest of Meng Wanzhou by relevant Canadian and US agencies. Among them, the first two days were mainly debates between the prosecution and the defense. In the next three days, a third-party legal person appointed by the court as "friends of the court" provided professional advice on whether to continue to disclose evidence.
The court’s trial of Meng Wanzhou’s extradition case mainly revolved around the three defense reasons for terminating the extradition procedure proposed by the defense lawyer, that is, Meng Wanzhou’s lawyer, namely whether it was double criminality, whether it was procedural abuse, and what the United States did. Whether the evidence provided by extradition is sufficient. Among them, the first defense-the trial of dual criminality, has been judged on May 27. The judge considered that the double criminality was in compliance and therefore could not terminate the extradition procedure. The current trial is the second defense, that is, whether the United States and Canada have abused judicial procedures.
In December 2019, the trial judge Holmes ruled that he agreed to the application submitted by Lawyer Meng Wanzhou, requesting that the Canadian government publicly arrested Meng Wanzhou, and relevant Canadian and American authorities were planning and communicating relevant documents during the arrest process. After some documents were released, it proved that when Meng Wanzhou was arrested at Vancouver Airport, the Canadian Border Services Agency illegally detained, searched and questioned her in the name of customs inspection, and passed the illegally collected information to the US federal investigation. Bureau. Although the Canadian government published relevant documents in accordance with the judge's decision, some of the public documents covered a lot of content on the grounds of sensitive information and endangering national security, which led to the fact that the truth has not been fully restored.
Meng Wanzhou’s lawyer disclosed the covered part of the application this time. This application is based on the judge’s decision in December 2019. If the covered content is made public, it will further reveal how US and Canadian government officials violated Meng Wanzhou’s charter rights during the arrest of Meng Wanzhou. Judging from the information that has been disclosed so far, the arrests jointly planned by Canada and the United States were made by the law enforcement agencies of the United States under the control of Canadian law enforcement agencies to arrest Meng Wanzhou, and the illegal detention and interrogation were covered up as customs inspections. The practice is an abuse of judicial procedures.
The judge stated in the decision in December 2019 that he agreed to disclose relevant documents that the United States inappropriately tried to use Meng Wanzhou’s extradition case for economic and political gain. At the same time, the judge believes that the existing evidence cannot explain why the Canadian Border Services Agency “incorrectly” passed the password of the electronic device obtained from Meng Wanzhou to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in turn sent Meng Wanzhou to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Information such as the serial number of the electronic device was improperly passed to the FBI.
Huawei said in a statement that further disclosure of the information covered in the documents will help the case to be heard in a fair, fair and open manner. At the same time, disclosing relevant evidence of the case to the media and the public will help maintain the authority of the Canadian judicial system.
It is understood that the court will hear the two applications for termination of the extradition procedure in February and April 2021 on the abuse of procedures and the adequacy of evidence. Regardless of which reason the judge agrees, the extradition procedure will be terminated and Meng Wanzhou will be released immediately. .
Canadian law enforcement agencies arrested Meng Wanzhou during his transfer at Vancouver International Airport on December 1, 2018 in accordance with an extradition request issued by the U.S. Department of Justice, and he has been detained to this day. (Headquarters reporter Zhang Sen)