Ian Mulgrew (Vancouver Sun) – The mother of Robert Dziekanski, whose 40-year-old son died at Vancouver Airport in a confrontation with the RCMP, is traveling to Poland to lead a crusade to have criminal charges laid in Europe against the four officers involved.
In an interview Tuesday with her Polish lawyer Piotr Banasik, Zofia Cisowski said she would return to B.C. in September when the public inquiry into the Taser-related death of her son resumes.
She complained that she cannot wait for the report by Commissioner Thomas Braidwood because it unlikely to be finished before next year — more than two years since Dziekanski died Oct. 14, 2007.
“This is taking too long, far too long,” the bereaved mum said. “I am sorry I have to go to Poland for justice but this is too long. It looks like it could be another year.”
Banasik said he was confident the evidence he had collected while in Canada during the last two weeks is more than enough to prod Polish authorities into filing charges.
“We have specific provisions in our criminal code that cover this situation,” he said.
Banasik said he was returning to Warsaw on Sunday and it would take between six and eight months to translate transcripts from the Braidwood inquiry and prepare the documents for the Polish legal system.
Regardless if charges are filed against the RCMP officers, it is unlikely they would ever stand trial unless they willingly traveled to Poland.
“There is no treaty governing extradition,” Banasik explained. “So it’s very difficult to bring the accused to Poland. Once the charges are filed, the Polish prosecutor can issue an international warrant for them through Interpol so that they cannot leave Canada.”
He thought charges of unintentional manslaughter and abuse of power could be laid against the Mounties for jolting Dziekanski five times and then subduing him as he writhed on the ground screaming in agony.
He died on the airport floor about 10 hours after arriving in Canada.
In Dec., provincial prosecutors announced they would not lay charges against the four officers but the last five months of evidence
Polish prosecutors opened a file on the case, Banasik explained, but have suspended their work on it because Canada has stopped cooperating with them.
He has filed a legal motion to have them reopen the file on the basis of the material he has collected.
Don Rosenbloom, lawyer for the Polish government at the Braidwood inquiry, and Walter Kosteckyj, Cisowski’s local lawyer, have helped him enormously, Banasik said.
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