Rhett Fuller remains on remand at the Hattieville Prison pending extradition to the United States. And his attorneys continue to fight in the courts to set him free. Today Eamon Courtenay was back before the Supreme Court asking for judicial review of the Minister's decision to extradite him, which was handed down two weeks ago.
The government side had its own applications to the court - and Courtenay told us he asked Justice Samuel Awich to roll it all up into one big hearing:..
Eamon Courtenay, attorney
"We are applying for judicial review to challenge the decision of the Minister which was made on the 20th of September. In order to do that we need the permission of the court. Learned counsel for the Attorney General for the Minister of Foreign Affairs said that they were going to oppose the permission being granted and which will involve substantial arguments, so what I ask the judge to do is to hear both things at the same time. To hear the application for permission and receive our submissions on that but also go on to receive our submissions on the substantive judicial review application, so when he comes to consider the matter - when he goes over the submissions for permission, if he says yes there is enough here I would have granted permission, he would already have our evidence and submissions on the substantive hearings so that we didn't have to come back to court."
Jules Vasquez
"Now, importantly all actions to extradite him have been stayed in the interim because the Foreign Minister was under compulsion to extradite him within 2 months of the Privy Council judgment. That is stayed?"
Eamon Courtenay, attorney
"Yes. The judge stayed 2 things; one is the decision of the Minister which is to surrender Mr. Fuller to the American authorities - as I said the decision that the Minister took on the 20th of September, under section 12 of the Extradition Act, that surrender has to happen within 2 months of the decision of the Privy Council which will expire I believe today or tomorrow. I think it's the 9th of October. So that decision has been suspended, and also a stay has been granted of the Minister's decision. A Minister cannot surrender Rhett and the 2 month period has been suspended. The time stops running and so we will have the hearing and the Minister doesn't have to worry."
Jules Vasquez
"You are moving forward towards progress or are these just maneuvers threading water and forestalling the inevitable?"
Eamon Courtenay, attorney
"Well I think the first thing is that Mr. Fuller believes that he is being treated unfairly, he believe that too much time has pass and that to extradite him at this stage would be very prejudicial and unjust. The Minister has made his decision and we have very carefully review the decision of the Minister with respect, we believe that the Minister has made significant errors and mistakes in the decision that he has made and so we have now got the permission of the court to bring that matter before Justice Awich for him to determine whether or not the Minister has made any mistakes. I shall say importantly that one of the applications that we are making is that if the judge agrees with us that the Minister - to issue an order prohibiting the Minister from re-starting this all over again. So we are now coming to the point where it's either do or die and we feel that Mr. Fuller has grounds has grounds to put before to get the rulings that we are seeking."
The hearing date has been set for November.
