Close X
Wednesday, January 8, 2025
ADVT 
National

Lawyer Says CSIS Documents May Point To Entrapment In Case Of Alleged Terrorists

The Canadian Press, 23 Jun, 2015 10:17 AM
  • Lawyer Says CSIS Documents May Point To Entrapment In Case Of Alleged Terrorists
VANCOUVER — Canada's spy agency should hand over information that could shed light on whether a British Columbia man found guilty of terrorism was the victim of police manipulation, a court has heard.
 
Lawyer Marilyn Sandford said she wants the B.C. Supreme Court to order disclosure of all correspondence between the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the Mounties related to the investigation of her client John Nuttall and his wife Amanda Korody.
 
Nuttall and Korody were found guilty three weeks ago of planning to set off pressure-cooker bombs on the grounds of the B.C. legislature in 2013.
 
Their lawyers are scheduled to begin arguments next week that the couple was entrapped and that police manipulated them into carrying out their Canada Day bomb plot.
 
Sandford told the court on Tuesday that it appeared that CSIS had information on Nuttall and Korody's case beyond what the RCMP has so far released.
 
She pointed to the possible involvement of another individual in the case who may have acted as a source for a CSIS investigation, which Sandford argued would be "of extreme relevance to the issue of entrapment."
 
"We require disclosure concerning (the individual) in order to investigate his potential role, if he was a human source, as an agent provocateur who encouraged Mr. Nuttall to commit violent acts," Sandford told the court.
 
She referenced wire intercepts disclosed in the earlier trial, which, she said, strongly indicate "that that's what he was doing in the name of Islamic jihadist extremism."
 
The court heard that documents disclosed by the Mounties consist of little more than a single line from CSIS advising police that Nuttall may be a national security threat.
 
"We have the RCMP saying, 'there's nothing here,'" said Sandford. "Well, there seems to be a lot more here than what meets the eye."
 
Crown lawyer Peter Eccles opposed the application, insisting that CSIS has no obligation to share information with anyone and that any information would be irrelevant to the defence's case.
 
The RCMP can ask for information and the spy agency is fully entitled to tell the Mounties "to pound sand," Eccles told the court.
 
He also pointed out that the question of entrapment relates to the conduct of the RCMP and not CSIS.
 
"They had no idea about the CSIS information," said Eccles. "So how can the presence or absence of CSIS material have an impact on the RCMP's (conduct)?"
 
He accused the defence of embarking on a fishing expedition, calling its "broad, sweeping request" for information from CSIS as "a pure shot in the dark."
 
Besides its correspondence with the RCMP, defence is asking for disclosure from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service for all surveillance information related to Nuttall and Korody collected between Jan. 1, 2011 and July 1, 2013, when the pair was arrested.
 
A trial, set to begin next week, will examine if Nuttall and Korody were entrapped by police into attempting their bomb plot.

MORE National ARTICLES

One-Vote Loss Leads To Big Win For B.C. Doctor Heading Association In 2016

One-Vote Loss Leads To Big Win For B.C. Doctor Heading Association In 2016
Dr. Alan Ruddiman has been elected to head Doctors of BC, with 3,065 votes, while Dr. Brian Day received 2,462 votes.

One-Vote Loss Leads To Big Win For B.C. Doctor Heading Association In 2016

Human Remain Found Near An Industrial Complex In Whistler; Identity, Gender Unknown: Police

Human Remain Found Near An Industrial Complex In Whistler; Identity, Gender Unknown: Police
WHISTLER, B.C. — Homicide investigators are trying to identify human remains that have been found near an industrial complex in Whistler, B.C.

Human Remain Found Near An Industrial Complex In Whistler; Identity, Gender Unknown: Police

66-Year-Old Woman Found Guilty In London, Ont., Costco Crash Which Killed Two Little Girls

66-Year-Old Woman Found Guilty In London, Ont., Costco Crash Which Killed Two Little Girls
A 66-year-old woman accused in the deaths last summer of a young girl and a newborn after her car smashed into a Costco store in London, Ont., was found guilty Friday of dangerous driving.

66-Year-Old Woman Found Guilty In London, Ont., Costco Crash Which Killed Two Little Girls

Special Prosecutor Charges Son Of Abbotsford Liberal MLA Darryl Plecas With Dangerous Driving

Special Prosecutor Charges Son Of Abbotsford Liberal MLA Darryl Plecas With Dangerous Driving
Crown appointed a special prosecutor to independently review an incident involving Ryan Plecas and another man after an incident in Abbotsford, B.C., in December 2014.

Special Prosecutor Charges Son Of Abbotsford Liberal MLA Darryl Plecas With Dangerous Driving

B.C. Cabinet Minister James Moore Won't Run In Fall Election, Cites Son's Health

OTTAWA — Industry Minister James Moore is ending his 15-year career in politics and will not seek re-election. He is the latest in a string of long-time Conservative MPs bowing out for this campaign.

B.C. Cabinet Minister James Moore Won't Run In Fall Election, Cites Son's Health

B.C. Government Pulls Environmental Certificate For Controversial Jumbo Glacier Resort

B.C. Government Pulls Environmental Certificate For Controversial Jumbo Glacier Resort
VANCOUVER — Developers of a controversial billion-dollar ski resort that has been decades in the making will have "to start from scratch," said British Columbia's environment minister.

B.C. Government Pulls Environmental Certificate For Controversial Jumbo Glacier Resort