Daegun Chun, accused by Quebec RCMP of being the mastermind of a Canada-wide human-smuggling network, is now suing the force and Quebec’s attorney general for $100 million after all charges against him were stayed.
Chun was arrested in Toronto in 2015, then flown to Montreal and paraded in front of TV cameras before a press conference alleging he was the head of a trafficking ring that forced as many as 500 women into prostitution in various Canadian cities.
The Quebec Crown prosecutor who brought the charges said at the time there was “overwhelming evidence” in the case.
After all the fanfare over Chun’s arrest, Crown prosecutors quietly stayed all charges against him in 2018.
Chun originally filed his lawsuit in 2019, but it has been delayed several times as both the RCMP and the Quebec attorney general have tried to have it tossed on procedural grounds.
Chun spent 32 months in detention in Montreal before being released on bail in 2017, a few months before his scheduled trial.
I’d want a cash payout and public apology just for being locked up for nearly three years.
“Given that the first statement of claim was drafted by non-lawyers and tells such a clear factual story, in my view, the plaintiffs ought to have one more chance to try to plead proper claims,” Myers said in the decision.
“I am not much moved by the RCMP’s desire to get on with its life as opposed to Mr. Chun’s claim for recompense for the loss of his life as he knew it,” Myers said.
“Uncharitably viewed, the RCMP could be said to be grasping at technical straws to avoid having to account for its remarkable conduct,” Myers said.
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I’d want a cash payout and public apology just for being locked up for nearly three years.
This judge gets it and is a badass.