The mother of Robert Dziekanski is now working with lawyers here and in Poland to see if criminal charges can be laid there against the four officers involved in the fatal incident at Vancouver’s airport in 2007.
Zygmunt Riddle, a West Vancouver businessman who is a friend of Dziekanski’s mother, Zofia Cisowski, said Wednesday that Cisowski has hired a lawyer in Poland and a former B.C. judge, Bill Sundhu, to investigate whether the four Mounties involved in the fatal incident can be charged in Poland.
“They are in the process of gathering some information in Poland,” Riddle explained, adding under Polish law, the government of Poland is obligated to investigate and prosecute the death of a Polish citizen abroad.
He said Sundhu will make an announcement Saturday about a new development at a fundraising dinner for Cisowski in Surrey.
“So far they are not charged,” Riddle said of the four RCMP officers who were involved in confronting and Tasering Dziekanski five times on Oct. 14, 2007 at Vancouver International Airport. He died at the scene minutes later.
Sundhu, now a Kamloops lawyer, has provided Cisowski a legal opinion that the government should review its decision last December not to charge the officers with any criminal offence, especially in light of testimony that emerged in recent months at the Braidwood inquiry, which heard its final witness Tuesday.
The inquiry will resume June 19 to hear the final arguments from lawyers.
The commissioner, retired judge Thomas Braidwood, is expected to deliver his report on the first phase of the inquiry, held last year to probe the use of Taser weapons in B.C., by June 30.
The report on the second phase of the inquiry, which started last January and probed the events surrounding Dziekanski’s death, isn’t expected to be completed until the fall.
Transcripts of the testimony heard by the inquiry are available on the website: www.braidwoodinquiry.ca
The inquiry was ordered by the attorney-general after a public outcry over the incident, prompted by an amateur video shot by a bystander, Paul Pritchard, that was released and posted on YouTube, attracting international attention.
One of the Vancouver lawyers involved in the inquiry, Don Rosenbloom, who represented the government of Poland, said Wednesday that Pritchard “is really the hero in this whole thing.”
He credited Pritchard, after police seized his camera at the airport and told him they would not give him a copy of the video until the investigation was completed, for hiring a lawyer and going to court to get the video released.
“The inquiry was held because there was a public outcry, because of the video,” Rosenbloom said, adding that Pritchard currently is living in Peru.
nhall@vancouversun.com
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Sundhu working with Warsaw on Dziekanski case
By Dale Bass – Kamloops This Week
Published: October 13, 2009 12:00 PM
Kamloops Lawyer Bill Sundhu is working with a Polish counterpart in an attempt to get the Canadian government to tell what it knows about the death of Robert Dziekanski.
So far, it’s not gone well, but Sundhu said the Polish courts will be asked to order its government to reopen its investigation into the tasering death of Dziekanski by RCMP officers almost two years ago — and, ideally, break through what Sundhu claims is a coverup of the truth.
Sundhu explained under its legal system, the Polish government is required to investigate any situation that might have legal repercussions, no matter where in the world it happened to a Polish citizen.
In late 2007, based on this law, the Polish government wrote to the Canadian government and asked for release of the facts and documents it had gathered since Dziekanski died at the Vancouver International Airport as he arrived to start a new life with his mother, Zofia Cisowski, in Kamloops.
As a result of that discussion, RCMP officers flew to Poland “basically digging out dirt on Robert,” Sundhu said, then returned home — and the Canadian government announced it would not co-operate with the Polish government.
Sundhu said Poland can’t simply take what is written in the media about the circumstances surrounding Dziekanski’s death and also can’t use evidence presented to an inquiry into the death, now wrapping up in Victoria, under retired justice Thomas Braidwood.
“We’re leaving no stone unturned,” Sundhu said of the international move.
“Ideally, the [B.C.] criminal just branch should appoint a special prosecutor to oversee an investigation of the RCMP in this. That’s what needs to happen, but that’s not what has happened,” he said.
“And we know the investigation [into the tasering] was flawed because you had the RCMP investigating itself.
“It just feels like a coverup — and the public can’t have confidence in this.”
Because the two-year anniversary of Dziekanski’s death is today — he was killed on Oct. 14, 2007 — a civil lawsuit has been filed by Cisowski, naming the RCMP and the airport as defendants.
There is a two-year time frame for such suits to be filed.
Sundhu said the fact the suit had to be filed is “revealing” in that there has been no offer to compensate Cisowski for her loss and its financial impact on her life.
“It tells me he [Cisowski’s lawyer, Walter Kosteckyj] discussed it with the RCMP and they said no and that shows the arrogance of these defendants.”
Sundhu is a former provincial court judge and one of a handful of people studying for a prestigious legal master’s degree in human rights at Oxford University.
He said that, just viewing the video alone that was shot by an observer at the airport when Dziekanski died, he can see cause for several charges to be laid against the four officers.
And Sidhu is unhappy there seems to be a public impression any decision that may be brought forward by Braidwood will end the saga.
“All it can do is prompt the [provincial] government to do the right thing.”
Taser International, however, recently changed its targeting guide for police who use the weapons.
The bulletin issued said it was making the recommendation to avoid controversy, saying officers should aim for the abdominal area, legs or back.
Polish Government Could Cramp Holiday Plans for Some RCMP Members
By Ben Meisner
Monday, October 19, 2009 03:45 AM
If the Polish Government decides to proceed with charges against the four RCMP officers who tazered Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver International airport, it can be safely said the officers may find their holidays (either winter or summer) will be confined to Canada.
Poland has an extradition treaty with many countries including the USA, Mexico, Australia and a host of others. As a matter of fact, there are few countries who don’t have such a treaty with Poland and unless the four involved can get a direct flight to Iran for a winter holiday, if the Polish government moves to lay its own charges, they face the risk of being picked off in a foreign country and being herded off to Poland to face charges in connection with Dziekanski’s death. Not unlike what happened to Director Roman Polanski when he stopped in Switzerland recently only to find U.S. officials waiting to pick him up on a case that was 30 years old.
The Poles may have the last laugh in all this given that they haven’t been very happy with the goings on so far. The fact the Canadian government lawyers are arguing the province of B.C. has no jurisdiction over the RCMP in BC has not set well with the Polish reps either.
They have been looking at the matter with a very sideward glance and eyes rolling in the air.
Their counsel at the Braidwood inquiry has made no bones about the fact they didn’t appreciate the kind of interrogation that took place following Dziekanski‘s death in Poland by RCMP officers looking to dig some dirt on the Polish immigrant. The issue got so hot that Polish police were set to give the RCMP their walking papers out of the country.
There is no a spirit of cooperation on the issue and the Poles may have the last ace to pull.
It may have taken a lot of years but Roman Polanski discovered that extradition treaties do apply to everyone. So the officers who responded to the Vancouver Airport that October night, might just take a re-think on where they like to holiday. It may not be very warm in January, but Osoyoos has some lovely beaches.
I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion.
B.C. Lawyer Presses for Special Prosecutor in Dziekanski Case
By 250 News
Thursday, October 29, 2009 10:04 AM
Prince George, B.C. – A B.C. Lawyer and former Provincial Court judge is calling on the Polish Government to reopen its investigation into the death of Robert Dziekanski and for B.C. to appoint a special prosecutor to examine the possibility of charges.
Speaking on the Meisner program on CFIS FM this morning, William Sundhu says the Polish Government dropped its investigation when the Canadian Government chose not to hand over the evidence collected by Canadian investigators. While the Criminal Justice Branch probe concluded saying charges should not be laid, he says there is a lack of public confidence on that decision because it was police investigating police.“We think that a special independent prosecutor should be appointed by Victoria to oversee an investigation that is seen to be truly independent and then determine if charges should be recommended or not.”
Although there is a civil lawsuit launched by Dziekanski’s mother, at this point, there is no criminal case on this matter, “There are many a lawyer in this country who could launch a criminal case based on the Pritchard video alone”. The Pritchard video captured the events and actions which preceded Dziekanski’s death two years ago at the Vancouver Airport.
Sundhu says the longer this case is delayed before getting before a criminal court, the better the chance is of the case being lost because it didn’t go to court within a reasonable time.
Sundhu says if he were Crown Counsel, he would consider three charges:
1. Criminal negligence causing death
2. Obstruction of justice and possibly
3. Perjury
He says if a special prosecutor was appointed, it would be easier for the public to accept the final recommendation of whether or not charges should be laid.
Another question he raises is that since the testimony presented by the four officers at the Braidwood inquiry has come under scrutiny for its truthfulness, what does that do to other cases in which any of these officers testified?
Sundhu says since Poland has excellent relations with many other countries, it is not unreasonable to think that if the Polish government were to lay charges against the four, “I would be very careful about where I planned my vacations.”
