An Ontario Superior Court judge is sending signals he’s growing weary of delays in the extradition hearing of a professor accused of bombing a Paris synagogue.
Justice Robert Maranger told a hearing in Ottawa that he wants to see a date set soon so he can hear evidence in the French extradition case of Hassan Diab.
And Maranger said if the French government is not ready to present its case by any agreed date, “I may not be very receptive to that.”
The French government wants the 56-year-old Diab sent back to France so he can stand trial on charges of killing four people and injuring 40 others outside a Paris synagogue with a bomb-packed motorcycle in 1980.
The former Carleton University professor and Canadian citizen of Lebanese descent was arrested in November 2008 at the request of the French government.
Canadian prosecutor Claude LeFrancois, who is arguing the extradition request for France, said he has no clear instructions from the French government on whether they will introduce new evidence.
Diab lawyer Donald Bayne told Maranger it is unfair that France is not yet ready to present its case while his client remains home under strict bail conditions, including a GPS monitoring device that costs him $2,500 a month.
The court tentatively set three weeks in June to hear the extradition evidence. All parties are to return to court later this week to confirm whether witnesses are available and the case can proceed.