[quote]Black plays Canadian card to ease possible jail term
Four years ago Conrad Black renounced his Canadian citizenship as ‘an impediment to his progress in a more amenable jurisdiction’ - the United Kingdom. Now the beleaguered former newspaper tycoon is desperate to ditch his British citizenship for rather the same reasons.
Then it was to take up a seat in the House of Lords, which was being blocked by the Canadian Prime Minister, Jean Chretien. Now Black, facing trial in the United States on charges of defrauding the Hollinger newspaper group of more than $50 million, wants his old citizenship back. His former countrymen assume it is so that, if he is convicted, he can serve his time more pleasantly in a Canadian jail
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.Black’s new enthusiasm for Canada is a long way from his earlier views. He once described his native country as a ‘one-party federal state with no deliverance in sight,’ adding ‘most Canadians remain oblivious to their country’s objective decline’.
The urgency of Black’s application is self-apparent. Canadian immigration law prohibits citizenship if the applicant has been ‘convicted of an offence outside Canada that, if committed in Canada, would constitute an offence … punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of at least 10 years.’ If convicted on all counts, Black faces 40 years in a US prison.
But there is further reason for Black’s need to be restored to Canadian citizenship: It is easier for a Canadian citizen to fight extradition to the US than it is for a British subject.[/quote]
observer.guardian.co.uk/internat … 13,00.html