New Zealand’s top court yesterday ruled that a man can be extradited to China to face a murder charge — a judgement that goes against the trend set by most democratic nations.
In a 3-2 decision, the New Zealand Supreme Court found that China was able to give New Zealand officials sufficient assurance that the accused, Kim Kyung-yup, could get a fair trial and would not be tortured.
Concerns over those issues have been enough to stop most democratic countries from extraditing suspects to China in the past few years.
New Zealand — like many other democratic nations — does not have a formal extradition treaty with China.
Kim’s lawyers said that they would try to stop the extradition, first by filing a complaint with the UN Human Rights Committee and then, if needed, by filing a fresh judicial review based on Kim’s poor health.
Lawyer Tony Ellis said that Kim was disappointed by the judgement.
Ellis said that his client is in a suicidal state due to his health issues, which include severe depression, a small brain tumor, and liver and kidney disease.
Ellis said that he had trouble understanding the decision given that for the past 10 years, most countries had stopped extraditing people to China.
Almost every suspect in China pleads guilty before going to trial, because they know that if they do not, they will be tortured, he said.
The Supreme Court found that China was able to give sufficient assurance that Kim would be jailed in Shanghai, where New Zealand consulate staff could monitor him before and during his trial.
The court found that “if no substantial grounds exist for believing an individual accused is at risk of torture because of the assurances provided, the individual should not avoid prosecution for a serious crime.”
Kim was arrested in 2011 after China asked to extradite him on one count of intentional homicide.
He was incarcerated in New Zealand jails for more than five years, and spent another three years on electronic monitoring, making him the longest-serving prisoner not to face a trial in modern New Zealand.
Kim is a South Korean citizen who moved to New Zealand more than 30 years ago with his family when he was 14.
He is accused of killing Chen Peiyun, a 20-year-old waitress and sex worker, in Shanghai after traveling to the city to visit a different woman who was his girlfriend at the time.
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