China eyes its cards in B.C. murder case

 

Amanda Zhou, a pretty young exchange student living in a Burnaby basement suite, was strangled, stuffed in a suitcase and thrown down the embankment of a rural Mission road in 2002.

 

BY THE VANCOUVER PROVINCE MARCH 8, 2007

 

 

DAY FIVE: LAI CHANGXING

Amanda Zhou, a pretty young exchange student living in a Burnaby basement suite, was strangled, stuffed in a suitcase and thrown down the embankment of a rural Mission road in 2002.

Canada has requested his return, but, so far, China has refused. There is no extradition treaty between the two countries, but one extradition expert suggests this could be the case that brings the two countries to the treaty table.

Zhou was living with her boyfriend Ang Li, 18, and his cousin Han Zhang, 19, at the time of her murder.

Li called the RCMP to report that Zhou, 21, disappeared after going out to buy cooking oil on the night of Oct. 9.

A family out cycling on the afternoon of Oct. 20 found the suitcase containing Zhou's remains.

Three days after the discovery, Li bought a one-way ticket to China departing that same day.

Two Burnaby RCMP officers dispatched to Vancouver airport arrived less than an hour before Li's flight.

Li was interviewed for 30 minutes, but with no evidence to charge him, the officers let him go.

To all intents and purposes, Ang Li vanished.

Zhang told police on Nov. 30 that he helped his cousin dispose of Zhou's body on Oct. 9. He was acquitted of accessory after the fact in 2004. A B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled the RCMP gathered evidence against him unfairly.

Li was charged with second-degree murder in absentia in 2003. He remains a free man in China, where his family is reportedly politically connected.

Neither the Department of Justice nor Foreign Affairs would comment on the case, citing state-to-state confidentiality.

But extradition expert Dr. Gary Botting, a legal scholar at the University of B.C., says there may be more to China's refusal to return Li.

"China may very well be playing its cards to negotiate a treaty -- 'Let's sign a treaty and we'll talk,'" says Botting.

China -- which has only one extradition treaty with a western country -- wants to sign a treaty with Canada in order to "legitimize itself" as an international player, says Botting.

Canada has so far refused because of China's abysmal human-rights record. But Canada's hand may ultimately be forced, he says, if only to provide a legitimate legal avenue for the return of fugitives like Ang Li.

"China is saying, 'Sign this treaty, come to an agreement and we'll talk about specific cases,'" says Botttings.

Meanwhile, the RCMP sits idle awaiting a decision by the Department of Justice on Li's return.

"It's a set back, a temporary set back," says RCMP Cpl. Pierre Lemaitre of Li's flight.

It was a murder case that twice shocked the conscience of Canadians -- first the cold-blooded deed; then the brazen escape of the alleged killer, Ang Li, who fled home to China under the nose of RCMP.