Alleged Russian spy to be deported
In a dramatic turn of events, the man suspected of being a Russian spy will be deported from Canada after he admitted lying about his age and his nationality.
The man, who went by the name Paul William Hampel, is in fact a Russian citizen and not aCanadian,although that was what he claimedwhen he was first arrested Nov. 14 at Montreal's Pierre Elliot Trudeau airport, a federal court judge said Monday afternoon.
When authorities arrested the manunder the guise of a federal security certificate, he was carrying an allegedly fraudulent Ontario birth certificate, $7,800 in five currencies, several cellphones and a short-wave radio.
He challenged the security certificate and was scheduled to reappear in federal court in mid-December when he admitted to his lawyers he is Russian, and lied about his age on the Ontario certificate.
His lawyers requested an earlier court hearing Monday, where they consulted with Judge Pierre Blais in chambers for several hoursbefore the latter announced the court was changing the security certificate into a removal order.
The suspect will be deported to Russia on an undisclosed date. His defence lawyers asked the court not to release his real name or the names of his family, for security reasons.
Man's real birth date released
The security certificate, issued by Ottawa, declared the man known as Hampel to be a danger to Canada, and would have given authorities the right to deport him.
The suspect had initiated a challenge against the certificate, and duringthe first day of his hearingon Nov. 28,two witnesses testifiedabout his identity and activities.
An agent from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service known as "Anthony" testified that there is an active espionage ring in Canada, andsaid he believedthe man known as Hampel was part of that scene.
CSIS alleged the suspect was a member of Russian spy agency Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki, which took over the infamous KGB. Canadian intelligence believed the suspect had lived in Canada for at least 10 years.
An investigator with the Ontario Registry Office cast doubt on the legitimacy of the suspect's birth certificate.
The federal court did release the suspect's real date of birth: Oct.21, 1961.