CRONY OF WEST END GANG LANGUISHING IN MEXICAN JAIL

Son Pleads For Federal Assistance For Father, Held Without Trial On
Cocaine Charges

GARY FRANCOEUR, Freelance

The son of a Montreal man is pleading with federal government
officials to help save his ailing father, who has been held in a
Mexican prison without trial for more than three years.

"My father is dying over there and these people are doing nothing,"
said Michael Fisher, who wants his father brought back to Canada.

The ordeal started on June 20, 2002, when Kenneth Fisher, who has
been linked by police to Montreal's West End Gang, was arrested in
Mexico City by RCMP and local police. He was charged with conspiracy
to smuggle cocaine from Mexico into Canada.

But instead of being deported to Canada or put on trial locally, the
Montrealer was flung into a tiny Mexican prison cell, often crowded
with almost a dozen other inmates. He also says he was beaten by police.

Fisher, 58, is still in prison 31/2 years later and waiting for his
trial to begin.

His son places the blame for the long wait squarely on the RCMP. He
claims they have continuously delayed the case by not providing
Mexican authorities with evidence and failing to show up for court hearings.

"They're keeping the case in some sort of legal limbo and playing
with my father's life like it was some sort of game," said Michael Fisher, 32.

The RCMP handed evidence to Mexican authorities last summer but it
might be years before all the documents are translated from English
and French into Spanish, Michael Fisher points out.

To make matters worse, his father has become severely ill."He has
high blood pressure and we recently found out he has prostate cancer.
The conditions in there are horrible and he isn't being given the
proper medical treatment."

He claims the entire situation is a RCMP vendetta that dates to 1991,
when his father's trial in Montreal was aborted after a government
witness was charged with perjury.

Claude Girouard, Kenneth Fisher's lawyer, says he is shocked by the
way his client has been treated by the federal government. "I have
never seen anything like this before," he said. "There is a will
somewhere not to have Kenneth Fisher brought back to Canada."

The RCMP denies the accusations against them.

"It's completely false," said Staff Sgt. Paul Marsh, spokesperson for
the RCMP's national headquarters.

"We have complied with the request for information and supplied the
evidence (for the trial) in a timely fashion."

The Department of Foreign Affairs maintains it is in regular contact
with Kenneth Fisher and makes sure he is treated well, but says it is
powerless to do anything else.

"It's an ongoing case and it is in the hands of Mexican officials,"
spokesperson Rejean Beaulieu said.