Terrorism suspect's case delay a `red herring,' his lawyer says
The lengthy delay in getting Calgary terrorism suspect Jamal Borhot to trial was not caused by the complexity of the case, his lawyer said Monday.
Defence counsel Pawel Milczarek, who wants Justice Corina Dario to enter a judicial stay in the case, said the Crown can't rely on complex issues to justify taking more than 44 months to complete his client's case.
In their written submissions, prosecutors Dominic Puglia and Kyra Kondro argued complexity was one of the main reasons the case has exceeded the ceiling established by the Supreme Court of 30 months.
“This is a complex case,” the prosecutors said in their filed brief.
“Terrorism prosecutions and the terrorism provisions of . . . the Criminal Code have consistently been referred to as complicated.”
In their Jordan decision, the nation's top court said without delay attributable to the defence or exceptional complex issues, cases that exceed 30 months shall be deemed to violate an accused person's right to trial within a reasonable amount of time.
Milczarek wants Dario to find Borhot's Charter right has been breached, and the only solution is to end his prosecution.
“All of these complexities (cited by the Crown) are a red herring,” Milczarek argued.
“They aren't the actual things that were responsible for the delay.”
He noted Borhot was charged in September 2020, after seven years of investigation into the conduct of the accused and his cousin Hussein Borhot's activities in Syria related to ISIS.
Borhot, 34, faces three charges of participating in the activities of a terrorist group. He is accused of travelling to Syria in 2013 and 2014 to assist ISIS.
Hussein Borhot was handed a 12-year sentence in May 2022, after admitting to becoming an ISIS fighter while in the Middle East.
Milczarek said nothing the defence has done has caused his client's case to be before the courts for so long, suggesting conduct by the Crown over issues such as disclosure was to blame.