Canada’s embassy can’t confirm or deny the “rumors” that Colombia’s fugitive peace commissioner has gotten asylum in Canada because of privacy laws.
Canadian embassador to Colombia, Carmen Sylvain told Colombia Reports that Canada respects privacy laws and cannot give personal information on Luis Carlos Restrepo without consent of the individual. “For this reason, we can neither confirm nor deny the presence of an individual in Canada,” Sylvain says.
MORE: Canada grants asylum to Colombia’s former peace commissioner: Report
Canada’s refugee law allow the protection of individuals who prove they have been persecuted because of their race, religion, nationality, or membership of a political or social group. People that request asylum must show that they face torture, threats to their life, or cruel and unusual punishment if they return to their country of origin, according to Sylvain.
Restrepo fled the country in 2012 after he was accused of staging a demobilization of a false FARC front.
The FARC “Cacica Gaitana” Front that demobilized in 2006 supposedly consisted of homeless people paid by narcotraffickers to help boost the reelection campaign of former president Alvaro Uribe.
MORE: Uribe officials implicated in false demobilization scandal
Sources
- Email from Canadian Embassy
