FORGOTTEN MAN CLOSE TO DEATH

Greg Weston Asks Why Tory MPs Who Once Spoke Out on Behalf of a
Canadian Stuck in a Mexican Jail Don't Do More for Him Now

A sick 58-year-old Montreal man who has been trapped in a Mexican
prison for almost four years without trial may be the victim of a
Canadian government cover-up of a botched RCMP operation.

As we first reported last year, Kenneth Fisher has been stuck in a
bizarre legal limbo created almost entirely by his own government -- a
Canadian convicted of nothing, rotting in a foreign jail, unable to
get his day in court in either Mexico or Canada.

Expressed Concern

At the request of the RCMP -- and with Mounties present -- Fisher was
arrested in Mexico City in 2002 in connection with an alleged drug
conspiracy. Eight other Canadians were subsequently arrested in Montreal.

But rather than extraditing Fisher back to Montreal to face justice
with the others, he was locked up in one of Mexico's worst hell-holes
to await a trial that never happened.

For more than three years, RCMP and Canadian justice officials
stonewalled, refusing repeated requests from Mexican judges to provide
the evidence necessary to prosecute Fisher.

And there he still sits in Latin America's largest prison. Population
9,000. Conditions unimaginable.

In Canada, the deplorable behavior of the Mounties and government
officials probably would have made Fisher a free man long ago. But in
the Mexican justice system, it simply meant he was stuck in legal
limbo and behind bars.

Last fall, under mounting pressure from the media and opposition
parties, federal justice officials finally sent Mexican authorities 27
CDs full of information. A lawyer involved in the case says he
suspects there isn't much of relevance in the mountain of data, but
the need to translate it all will ensure the proceedings are further
delayed for months, if not years.

That may be enough to stonewall Kenneth Fisher to death. Already in
frail health, he was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer. In a
notorious prison internationally criticized for providing only the
bare necessities of life, Fisher's days are almost surely numbered
unless he is returned to Canada.

It would be easy to do. Canada could simply request his extradition on
a long-outstanding warrant here.

Yet no one in four years has asked for his extradition, and no one in
Ottawa will say why.

Unsupported Accusation

Maybe now we know. Documents obtained by Sun Media suggest that if the
case ever gets to court in either country, the Mounties could be up to
their saddles in horse manure.

Official documents indicate RCMP wiretaps and other snooping on Fisher
in Mexico City leading up to his arrest in 2002 had no authorization
from the Mexican government, and were therefore illegal.

In fact, the Mexican attorney general's office gave a sworn statement
in 2004 which stated: "No authorization of any kind was granted that
involved any police-related investigation (by the RCMP) in this
country." The statement went on to admit key pieces of evidence
against Fisher did not exist.

Finally, documents indicate that more than three years after the RCMP
told the Mexicans that Fisher was connected to a major organized crime
family, Canadian justice officials had provided nothing to support the
accusation.

If the Mounties blew their case against Fisher this time, it was
nothing like their last showdown in court in Montreal in the early
1990s. By the time that trial was over, a high-ranking RCMP officer
had killed himself, the key undercover agent was convicted of perjury,
and Fisher was free to go.

If anyone can -- and should -- get to the bottom of this latest RCMP
mess, it is the new Conservative government.

After all, when they were still in opposition, at least four key
members of the current cabinet took up the Fisher case.

In September 2005, Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay wrote a tough
letter to then justice minister Irwin Cotler, demanding to know why
his officials had been withholding information from Mexican
authorities.

Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor took up the cause as the Ottawa-area
MP representing Fisher's son, Michael. O'Connor also wrote directly to
the Mexican authorities last year, saying "regardless of his guilt or
innocence, we are of the opinion that Kenneth Fisher's human rights
have been violated by denying him a fair trial for nearly four years."

Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day and Justice Minister Vic Toews
also expressed concern while in opposition. But a funny thing happened
on the way to their cabinet limos.

An aide to O'Connor said this week the new defence minister is
"working on the Fisher thing." Whatever that means, it's more than the
others, who are apparently doing nothing.

Kenneth Fisher is no longer sure why he is trapped in his Mexican
hell. Is it to cover up a bungled RCMP investigation? Or perhaps
payback time for the earlier trial?

The reasons don't matter much to him and his family anymore. Once
fighting for his freedom, now they are pleading for his life.