Diplomatic Conventions and Undiplomatic Performances
"The pictures speak for themselves.""The furniture is full of cockroaches. Pieces of furniture are scratched and scuffed. Some are missing.""Everything is dirty.""The landlord has convinced the court that all the hazards experienced with the tenant exceed the foreseeable hazards and normal conditions of owning a building for rental purposes."Anne A. Laverdure, administrative judge
The Gatineau Police Service in Quebec is responding to an accusation from the government of Senegal that officers beat an on-duty Ottawa diplomat earlier this week. (Michel Aspirot/Radio-Canada) |
In
June Oumou Kalsoum Sall was ordered by the rental board of Quebec to
pay a former landlord over $45,000 for damages she caused to a furnished
house she rented and occupied from November 1, 2018, to October 31,
2020. The tribunal found she had caused flooding in the house leading to
structural damage. Her obvious misuse of the rental property left the
owner of the house, Michel Lemay, in a position of having to replace
most of the house furniture.
The
house owner, Lemay, was awarded $13,500 by Judge Laverdure in
compensation for the structural damage done to the house, along with
another $23,000 to pay for the furniture required to be replaced.
Another several thousand dollars was awarded by the administrative judge
for other, allied damages caused by the renter.
According
to court records, the debt went unpaid, causing a bailiff to present to
another rental residence in Gatineau, Quebec on August 2, rented by
Kalsoum Sall -- for the purpose of seizing property in lieu of the
unpaid debt. At the embassy of the Republic of Senegal located in
Ottawa, Kalsoum Sall is a first counsellor. The Senegalese Ministry of
Foreign Affairs claims its diplomat was physically abused and was
hospitalized after police handcuffed and beat her.
An
investigation into the matter has been opened by Quebec's independent
police watchdog. Gatineau police explained they were called to the
residence by a bailiff who required assistance. There, they arrested a
woman with diplomatic status.The
diplomat had slapped a female police officer back and forth on her face.
As another police officer attempted to place handcuffs on the diplomat
to put an end to her violence she bit him.
"Faced with an aggressive person who refused to cooperate, the police
intervened to explain the process and to ensure that everything went
smoothly", explained a police spokesperson. "During
the intervention, a policewoman was punched in the face and
injured.The police then decided to arrest the
person in order to put an end to the offence, for the safety of those
present.The person was then brought to the ground to be subdued. The
same day, shortly after 3 p.m., the paramedics called [the Gatineau
police] for assistance when they were working with this person and
about ten people were present."
The diplomat was temporarily arrested by police in an effort to stem her violent physical attacks. "They
[some diplomats] can be aggressive because they know that they have
immunity, so they believe that they can do whatever they want", explained Gilles Rivard, in an interview -- a former Canadian ambassador to the United Nations and to Haiti.
Officially
police are not ordinarily permitted to arrest diplomats, though a
police officer might handcuff someone while they wait to confirm the
person's diplomatic status. "But if after that, that person shows that she is a diplomat, or he is a diplomat, normally they have to be released."
The Senegalese Embassy asserts its diplomat was physically abused as a
result of police violence, addressing its outrage to the incident.
"The investigation's objective is to determine the exact sequence of events with as much precision as possible.""At the conclusion of the investigation, the file will be transferred to the directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénales, whose role and prerogative are to determine if charges should be filed against the officers involved."Gatineau Police Services spokesperson
Communique |
The charge d’affairs at the Canadian Embassy in Dakar, the Senegalese
capital, was consequentially summoned to the Foreign Affairs Ministry for officials there to "vigorously denounce and strongly condemn this racist and barbaric
act."
"The government of Senegal has demanded that an investigation be launched without delay and that charges be brought against the perpetrators of this unacceptable assault, which constitutes a serious infringement of the person’s physical integrity and human dignity, as well as a flagrant violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations."Senegalese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dakar, Senegal
"The police verified that ... the legal officer who authorized the court order had been informed that the person had diplomatic status. Faced with an aggressive person who refused to co-operate, the police intervened to explain the process and to ensure that everything went smoothly.""The person resisted arrest and bit a second officer. The person was then brought to the ground to be subdued [and] was detained in the back of the patrol vehicle, under the supervision of a policewoman, until the bailiff carried out his order and the situation returned to calm.""At no time did the person mention having been injured or having pain when questioned."Gatineau Police Services
Labels: Canada, Ottawa, Quebec, Senegal Diplomatic Mission
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