Ottawa man stuck in D.R.C. waiting on courts
Posted Jan 6, 2012 11:22:58 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA – An Ottawa man stuck in the Democratic Republic of Congo will have to wait for the courts to decide if he can come home. Fabien Kalala had tried to board a flight home for Christmas but was arrested for allegedly insulting the current president Joseph Kabila.
The 24-year-old was was volunteering as a security guard for the opposition leader in the politically volatile country. He was arrested among dozens of others in the wake of the election turmoil plaguing the African nation. He was released a week later after our government stepped in and now must await trial in Congo.
Canadian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Diane Ablonczy told 1310News she can’t exempt anyone from another country’s judicial system.
“One of the things we tell Canadians, when they travel they must be prepared to be subject to the legal system and to the judicial proceedings in another country,” she said, adding that when Canadians go to other countries they need to know the laws of the land.
Ablonczy says Canadian diplomats have helped him find a lawyer and they will wait to see what happens with his case.
She says they can’t do anything more because they have to respect the laws of the D.R.C.
