Defence desires Crown prosecutor faraway from case over Constitution breach

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The lawyer for a suspected Calgary drug seller desires the prosecutor on the case eliminated for being liable for a breach of his shopper’s Constitution rights.

Defence counsel Gregory Lazin argued Monday that Crown lawyer Frank Polak was behind a breach of Mohammad Najie El-Ajami’s proper to obtain disclosure.

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In June Justice Colin Feasby dominated El-Ajami’s rights had been violated whereas he was in Lebanon for six years after police laid fees towards him, as a result of he wasn’t knowledgeable of the costs towards him and disclosure requests had been denied.

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Lazin argued Feasby ought to order Polak off the file, as a result of he declined to interact in discussions with El-Ajami or present disclosure whereas the accused was overseas and was unrepresented on the time.

“The query is, has Mr. Polak misplaced his objectivity?” Lazin stated.

In his June determination, the Court docket of King’s Bench decide discovered Polak was merely following the coverage within the Public Prosecution Service of Canada deskbook which units out their disclosure coverage.

“This guideline assumes that an accused is earlier than a courtroom in Canada charged with an offence in a home prison continuing. If fees had been laid however the accused fled Canada or for another motive just isn’t earlier than a Canadian courtroom, there is no such thing as a obligation to offer full disclosure,” the deskbook reads.

However Lazin stated Polak ought to have ignored the rule because it led to El-Ajami’s Constitution proper to disclosure being breached.

Feasby discovered that within the distinctive circumstances of El-Ajami’s case, police and the Crown had been obligated to inform him the costs he was going through and supply disclosure despite the fact that he was absent from the county.

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El-Ajami left Calgary in November 2015 to attend the funeral of his brother, Khaled El-Ajami, who was murdered right here on Nov. 14, 2015, simply 10 days after a failed try on the accused’s personal life.

Police filed fees towards El-Ajami on Dec. 18, 2015, after a detective spoke to him by cellphone two days earlier, asking him to show himself in, however he declined and stated he was staying in Lebanon.

Between 2017 and 2021 El-Ajami made repeated makes an attempt to be despatched disclosure, however none was supplied till he retained a lawyer in June 2021, Feasby discovered.

The decide stated if police had not laid fees towards El-Ajami till he returned to Calgary in March 2022, he wouldn’t have been entitled to know what fees he confronted or any disclosure.

However Feasby stated despite the fact that El-Ajami’s rights had been violated, he wasn’t entitled to a keep of his fees, the treatment Lazin searched for his shopper.

“The crimes with which Mr. El-Ajami has been accused are severe. He’s alleged to have been the chief of a drug trafficking ring,” the decide stated in his June determination.

“The breach of Constitution rights skilled by Mr. El-Ajami had been actual and shouldn’t have occurred, however they fall wanting requiring a keep to uphold the integrity of the justice system.”

Feasby will rule on Aug. 28 on whether or not Polak can keep on the file.

El-Ajami, who’s free on bail, is scheduled to be tried starting Nov. 20.

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