Topic: CBSA: Help Us Catch War Criminals in Canada

[milnews.ca]

Easing back into alleged war criminals, #5 is reportedly rounded up....

Tips and information from the Canadian public have resulted in the capture of a fifth individual suspected of being complicit in war crimes or crimes against humanity. This update follows the announcement on July 21, 2011 by the Honourable Vic Toews, Minister of Public Safety and the Honourable Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, urging Canadians to help in identifying 30 individuals suspected of being complicit in war crimes or crimes against humanity, and who are thought to be hiding out in locations across Canada.  Abraham Bahaty Bayavuge from the Democratic Republic of the Congo was found in Ottawa and is now in CBSA custody ....

Source:  CBSA news release, 28 Jul 11

.... and the nabbed Peruvian should be on his way back shortly:

A suspected war criminal from Peru, who had been hiding illegally in Canada, is being shipped home to face the music.

Manuel De La Torre Herrera, 57, was denied release at a detention review with the Immigration and Refugee Board because is is considered to be an extreme flight risk.

The former police officer in Peru is being escorted back on Friday afternoon.

He came to the GTA in May of 2000 to perform in a music festival and shortly after tried to claim refugee status which was later denied and he went under ground.

"I thank God and Canada that he took me here. I have done nothing wrong. I work here (as a painter) to pay for my children back in Peru," a sobbing Herrera said during the review.

He was arrested in Toronto on Tuesday after a citizen recognized his face that was featured among 30 suspected war criminals sought by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).

Herrera is alleged to have been involved in state-backed death squads that targeted the then Shining Path guerilla fighters in Peru.

Source:  Toronto Sun, 28 Jul 11

[cupper]

I doubt the conversion was an issue as the program has it built in.

No, it was the conversion. The officer that took the tobacco went through the system, figured out the correct tariff rate, but couldn't figure the correct weight to enter. She asked the other officer that was on the desk, the supervisor, and the other officer who was keeping watch on me if they knew how to convert ounces to grams. Two other officers that came in couldn't help either. This went on for 20 minutes. Even after I offered the info.

At which time, I'm guessing, they were probably thinking to themselves "What does it take for this guy to get the hint that we don't want to charge him?"

This went on for 20 minutes inside the building, after spending another 10 minutes going through the car. At no time while I was waiting for a charge did they say anything to me, with the exception of the officer babysitting me, who was discussing the weather in Virginia, and whom I offered the use of the I-Phone app.

So if they were dropping subtle hints, they need to work on their communication skills.
If they were trying to say you don't need to pay, they could have just said go ahead and remember the limit next time.

[WR]

I am not going further derail the original intent of this post. I have my thoughts about this and I will keep them to myself.

Back to the originally scheduled program.

[57Chevy]

 I think they have done a good job at nabbing some of these numbskulls since the news release dated 21 Jul,
 which is what the thread is supposed to be all about.

 so can the weights and measures ordeal of the chewing tobacco already.

Thanks 

[milnews.ca]

Amnesty International point:

.... Prioritizing charging individuals with relevant criminal offences, if warranted by the evidence, in Canada or another jurisdiction where a fair trial would be guaranteed ....

Jason Kenney counterpoint:

.... Our primary duty as a government is to protect Canada and Canadians.  Deporting these men discharges this duty and ensures Canada will not become a sanctuary for international war criminals and serious human rights abusers.  We are not obligated to conduct full-blown trials, at the cost of millions of taxpayer dollars, to prosecute every inadmissible individual for crimes committed in distant countries, often decades ago.  In addition to the extraordinary time and cost this would require, it would burden an already-strained legal system and clog our courts with foreign criminals.  Moreover, in many cases the lack of accessible evidence, local witnesses and a meaningful connexion between Canada and the crimes committed would make prosecution a quixotic proposition.  That said, where an individual is the subject of a warrant from a foreign court or tribunal, we will consider turning him over to the appropriate authorities ....

Another counterpoint:

.... you claim to be “concerned about the fact that these cases have been so widely publicized” given the “reputational harm” it may cause these men and the hypothetical risk it may impose on them or their relatives.  No doubt such exquisitely burnished sympathy does you credit.  However, as a former AI member, may I suggest that ostentatious hand-wringing over the good name of war criminals and human rights violators may sit uneasily with those AI members who, perhaps naively, believe your compassion should be reserved for their victims ....

More in the open letters.

[milnews.ca]

MORE criminals (not just war criminals) added to the "help us find them" list!
http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/wc-cg/criminality-criminalite-eng.html

[milnews.ca]

Some info on how long the process might take, in spite of the quick arrests....

"On August 20, 2007, CIC served its first Notice of Revocation of Citizenship to a person suspected of committing war crimes after the Second World War. Branko Rogan was served the Notice for allegedly obtaining his status in Canada by knowingly making false representations and concealing material circumstances regarding his activities as a guard and dealings with prisoners, in the town of Bileca, Bosnia Herzegovina."

April 2011:  Rogan goes to Federal Court of Canada to seek a reversal of the revocation of his citizenship - more on that here.

Can't find anything saying he's been shown the door just yet - and he admitted to lying to get into Canada (while denying the war crime charges).

18 Aug 11:  This just in (PDF) from the Federal Court of Canada

The Minister seeks a declaration that Mr. Rogan obtained his Canadian citizenship by false representation or fraud or by knowingly concealing material circumstances. Upon review, the Court finds that at the time that he was working as a prison guard at the detention facilities in Bileca, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Mr. Rogan was well aware of the fact that prisoners were being subjected to physical abuse, including beatings, that he was directly involved in the physical abuse of prisoners, and that he was not acting under duress. Furthermore, the Court finds that Mr. Rogan knowingly misrepresented his educational qualifications in his application for permanent residence, did not accurately disclose his addresses for the period between 1986 and 1994, misrepresented his employment history, and did not answer truthfully and knowingly concealed material information in relation to his involvement in crimes against humanity perpetrated against the male Muslim civilian population of Bileca in the summer of 1992.  As a result, the Court concludes that Mr. Rogan obtained his Canadian citizenship by false representation or fraud and by knowingly concealing material circumstances.

More in full decision here (PDF).

[57Chevy]

                               Shared with provisions of The Copyright Act
Federal government nets three men on wanted list
Robert Hiltz, Postmedia News/23 August
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Federal+government+nets+three+wanted+list/5292570/story.html#ixzz1VqkgYlaO

Twenty-four hours after releasing a most-wanted list of people sought for deportation, the government netted three men - including one charged in a $100-million drug bust in 2004.
 
Xun Ricky Zhang was apprehended by the Canada Border Services Agency on Thursday in Richmond, B.C. Zhang was first ordered deported in 2005 after serving time in prison for his part in producing ecstasy in a Toronto suburb, according to documents filed in an Immigration and Refugee Board appeal. His final 2008 appeal failed because he spent more than two years behind bars.
 
Zhang, an immigrant from China, was arrested in 2004 after police tracked him and six other men between two homes and two warehouses in Markham, Ont. York Regional Police found over 1,000 kilograms of liquid and powered ecstasy. At the time, police said the amount of the drug found could have produced 10 million ecstasy pills. Zhang had also been convicted of assault, robbery and theft.
 
A new most-wanted list was released by the government with the names and photographs of 30 men and two women, immigrants who are wanted for deportation because they were convicted of crimes in Canada.
 
Another man apprehended by authorities, Reginald King, was ordered deported after a 2003 incident in which he repeatedly tried to enter a Toronto nightclub with a loaded weapon, according to court sentencing documents. King was apprehended Friday in Walford, Ont., a small town in northern Ontario, about 200 kilometres east of Sault Ste. Marie.
 
Walter Ernesto Guzman surrendered to Montreal police Friday and was handed over to the CBSA. He has been convicted of drug trafficking, assault, break and enter and uttering threats.