Almost nine years after Amanda Zhao was murdered in B.C., her accused killer and former boyfriend is going to trial in China.
New Democrat MLA Jenny Kwan announced Monday that a trial for Ang Li is scheduled to start in Beijing Tuesday.
And Kwan said the case is unprecedented - where evidence gathered by the RCMP for a crime committed in Canada - has been turned over to a foreign jurisdiction for a prosecution there.
Kwan said that political pressure in Canada convinced China to waive the death penalty, clearing the way for the RCMP to hand over its files.
Zhao was found stuffed in a suitcase near Stave Lake in October 2002. Li, who had been living with Zhao in a basement apartment on Sherlock Avenue in Burnaby, fled to China before he could be charged in Canada.
Zhao was attending a Coquitlam language school at the time.
Li reported her missing on Oct. 9, 2002, 11 days before her body was found. Li fled to China just three days later -- on Oct. 23, 2002.
Kwan said Zhao's parents called her Sunday night with the news of the trial commencement.
They are relieved to finally have their day in court, Kwan said.
"They had asked us for help, reached across the seas - yelling - calling out for help and we responded to help the family to get this case to court so justice could be served," Kwan said.
Kwan, MLA for Vancouver-Mount Pleasant, held a news conference with Port Coquitlam MLA Mike Farnworth Monday, to update the case.
Farnworth said what is really needed is an extradition treaty between China and Canada so that people like Li could be tried in Canadian courts.
"I would like to see an extradition treaty with China, but that is not going to happen quickly," he said.
In the meantime, bilateral cooperation like what happened in the Zhao case will at least prevent suspects from walking free, he said.
A Crown prosecutor finally approved a second-degree murder charge against Li on May 12, 2003 - long after he had fled to China.
His cousin, Han Zhang, was charged in B.C. with being an accessory after the fact, but the charge was later thrown out and he also returned to China.
The Zhao family later travelled to Vancouver and met with Kwan and police to get an update on the case.
Kwan said Monday that the RCMP apologized to the parents about mistakes that had been made.
"I know that when the RCMP was here and met with the Zhao family, they were very apologetic about what had happened," Kwan said. "The court system here and the police system failed the Zhao family -- there is no mistake about that. Ang Li was allowed to leave the country and fled back to China and then his cousin, Han Zhang, was charged but there were complications with not following the proper procedures and as a result, that case was thrown out of court. Those were hard lessons for the RCMP - and more dramatically - hard lessons for the family."
