Russian Won’t Face Canadian Judicial System

A Russian diplomat who struck and killed a woman in Ottawa while allegedly driving drunk flew home Monday without facing charges, enraging Canadians who felt that he was getting away with murder.

Canada’s Foreign Ministry had asked Moscow to waive diplomatic immunity for the man, 45-year-old Andrei Knyazev, and a colleague who was involved in a separate crash the same day. But Russian authorities refused, saying the pair would face appropriate punishment at home under Russian law. The colleague also returned to Russia on Monday.

Knyazev, the first political secretary at the Russian Embassy in Ottawa, was returning from a day of ice fishing Saturday afternoon when his car jumped a curb and struck Catherine MacLean, 50, who was out walking her yellow Labrador. She died on the sidewalk, and her dog, Fielder, had to be euthanized. A friend walking with her, Catherine Dore, 56, suffered severe injuries requiring reconstructive facial surgery.

Knyazev could barely walk or speak when he was arrested, Ottawa police said. But he exercised his diplomatic immunity, preventing formal charges from being filed.

The Russian ambassador’s driver was involved in a separate accident while coming back from the same ice-fishing trip in another car. No one was hurt in that crash.

Canada’s foreign minister, John Manley, asked Moscow to waive the men’s immunity, saying it should be used only to deflect legal harassment while performing official duties in a host country.

“It is a very serious situation,” Manley said. “Clearly this has nothing to do with carrying out one’s responsibilities on behalf of the government.”

Moscow declined to lift the men’s immunity and said they would face investigation and any punishment under Russian law. If he had stayed in Canada, Knyazev would have faced counts of negligent homicide, driving while impaired and refusal to take a blood-alcohol test.

Immunity is provided to diplomatic staff and their families serving in foreign countries to shield them from interference in their work. Envoys can be charged with crimes but cannot be prosecuted unless their governments agree to lift their protection. Most often they are quickly recalled to their home countries.

In Ottawa on Sunday night, friends and neighbors of the victims walked with candles from the spot where the women were hit to the Russian ambassador’s residence a few blocks away, where they stood in the driveway until Ambassador Vitaly Churkin came outside.

Churkin spoke quietly with MacLean’s fiance, John Fryer, who said that the ambassador assured him Knyazev would not escape justice.

“He said Russia is a civilized country and it has laws. He promised this man would be punished,” Fryer said.