[pyritechips]

Judge denies legal aid to Air India suspect

Last Updated Fri, 19 Sep 2003 18:50:25

VANCOUVER - A B.C. Supreme Court judge has turned down a demand for legal aid from one of the Air India bombing suspects, a millionaire entrepreneur.

Justice Sunni Stromberg-Stein rejected the application Friday without giving her reasons in court.
Ripudaman Singh Malik applied for government help to fund his 11-lawyer defence team.

Malik is one of two B.C. men charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy in the 1985 Air India bombing that killed 329 people.

He claimed he had exhausted his money fighting the charges against him.

Government lawyers argued that Malik had access to assets he owns jointly with his wife, who now runs the family's businesses.

This summer, Malik's wife testified at a hearing that she wouldn't pay for her husband's defence because her family needed the money to live.

Written by CBC News Online staff

[Mulderator]

Originally posted by pyritechips:
Judge denies legal aid to Air India suspect

Last Updated Fri, 19 Sep 2003 18:50:25

VANCOUVER - A B.C. Supreme Court judge has turned down a demand for legal aid from one of the Air India bombing suspects, a millionaire entrepreneur.

Justice Sunni Stromberg-Stein rejected the application Friday without giving her reasons in court.
Ripudaman Singh Malik applied for government help to fund his 11-lawyer defence team.

Malik is one of two B.C. men charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy in the 1985 Air India bombing that killed 329 people.

He claimed he had exhausted his money fighting the charges against him.

Government lawyers argued that Malik had access to assets he owns jointly with his wife, who now runs the family's businesses.

This summer, Malik's wife testified at a hearing that she wouldn't pay for her husband's defence because her family needed the money to live.

Written by CBC News Online staff

If this was the US, the ACLU would be defending the scum!

[Sarge]

Originally posted by Mulder:
If this was the US, the ACLU would be defending the scum!

I thought this guy was only a suspect?

[Rep]

Originally posted by Sarge:
I thought this guy was only a suspect?

Good point Sarge. BTW fits in very well with your signature:

And I quote, "I am an American, fighting in the forces which guard my country and our way of life, I am prepared to give my life in their defense.
CODE OF CONDUCT
ARTICLE I"

TY

[pyritechips]

I'm with Mr Mulder but lets call the defendant "suspected scum"!

[Rep]

Hehe - OK, suspected scum it is. Ahhhhhhh, errrrr, ??? Can any of us ever be suspected scum, even if we did nothing?

[combsdon]

Originally posted by Mulder:
If this was the US, the ACLU would be defending the scum!

........guilty until proof of innocence..... I thought the hippocratic oath was for doctors........

[GoneForNow]

Well, technically, the Judge could have complied with his request. She could have appointed one attorney who is, say, 2 years out of law school or let him continue with his current "dream team" lawyers at his expense. Wonder which he would have chosen?
The law, in the US at least, says he has a right to counsel and counsel will be appointed if necessary. It doesn't say he has to have the best money can buy as if you were paying for it.

[Mulderator]

Originally posted by combsdon:

........guilty until proof of innocence..... I thought the hippocratic oath was for doctors........

A B.C. Supreme Court judge has turned down a demand for legal aid from one of the Air India bombing suspects, a millionaire entrepreneur.

That would change your opinion, no doubt, hey combsdon?

[combsdon]

Originally posted by Mulder:
........guilty until proof of innocence..... I thought the hippocratic oath was for doctors........

That would change your opinion, no doubt, hey combsdon? [/quote]



.............na.........

[pyritechips]

Additinal information: Judges reasoning.

Stromberg-Stein called the evidence of Malik and his family "contradictory," "unreliable," and "full of discrepancies" to diminish the value of his estate.

"It is inappropriate to manipulate the facts to reach a contrived result for the transparent reason of avoiding financial responsibility for funding a defence," Stromberg-Stein said.


Question for Mr Mulder and/or gb:

Can you explain to me why somebody would need 11 lawyers?
<--- Jim looking completely baffled.

[angelize56]

So he and the 11 lawyers can sing the 12 days of Christmas????

[pyritechips]

He's a Sikh. They don't celebrate Christmas!

[angelize56]

The lawyers converted him!

[pyritechips]

The lawyers converted him!

Hah! Actually no Marlene and this is the serious part:

A little history is needed here. The Sikhs live mostly in the North West of India. They have been separatists for a long time and want an independant homeland from India. Well, India is having none of that and meet the Sikh's fanatical and sometimes violent actions with equal force. Some 20 years ago the Indian government attacked the centre of the Sikh's separatist movement, the Golden Temple of Amritsar.

The bombing of Air India flight 182 was revenge for the attack on the Temple, which in turn was in revenge for the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indra Ghandi, which in turn...

Well, you get the idea. The same ugly, bloody cycle of killing that is pathetically similar to that in Northern Ireland, The Middle East, or what threatens to break out in Iraq. What makes this particularly despicable, to me at least, is that these violent Sikh separatists decided to export their particular brand of violence to Canada. I only hope that this botched investigation and trial does not allow these alleged scum off the hook.