MONTREAL -- A Quebec judge presiding over the case of alleged killer Luka Rocco Magnotta has granted an order that evidence be collected in France and Germany.
Superior Court Justice Guy Cournoyer ruled today in favour of a Crown motion presented Thursday.
It might not have been the news that Magnotta's defence lawyer Luc Leclair wanted to hear, but prosecutors were satisfied with the ruling.
“We want to get all the evidence that is available and in this situation the evidence and the witnesses were outside of the country in France and in Germany,” said Jean-Pascal Boucher, who represents the prosecution.
Magnotta's trial in the May 2012 death of Concordia University student Jun Lin is scheduled to take place this coming September.
Magnotta left Canada after the alleged murder and went to France and then Germany, where he was arrested in June 2012.
The prosecution wants to talk to more than 30 people in Paris and Berlin.
Cournoyer said that despite the differences in how the justice system operates in those countries, a decision on whether to accept the evidence gathered there will be taken once the process is over.
The judge explained how he envisioned the process, which would include some high tech communications.
"Mr Magnotta would be here in Canada with a video link and audio link to make sure he will hear everything and could talk to his lawyer if he needs to," said Cournoyer.
Magnotta's lawyer argued that the witnesses should be brought to Canada to testify at his client's jury trial.
But a Crown witness has testified there is no way to compel foreign citizens to testify in Canada and no recourse should they agree to testify and simply not show up.
Setting up the process and gathering testimony abroad could take four to six months.
