The lawyer for a man fighting extradition to China for murder says his fate should not be in the hands of politicians.
Tony Ellis (pictured) is the lawyer for murder-accused Kyung Yup Kim (file picture). Photo: RNZ/Tom Furley
Kyung Yup Kim is accused of murdering a woman in China in 2009 and the Chinese government called for his extradition in 2011.
In a judgement released yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled the government can surrender Kim once it has received additional assurances from Chinese authorities that he will get a fair trial and not be tortured.
Yesterday's judgement adjourned the Attorney-General's appeal against an earlier ruling quashing the former justice minister's decision to deport Kim. That ruling said former justice minister Andrew Little could not sign off on the deportation before satisfying himself that Kim would not be tortured in China and would get a fair trial.
Kim had made a cross appeal that in light of the human rights situation in China, saying "no reasonable Minister" could make the decision to extradite him - but that has been dismissed.
Kim's lawyer, Tony Ellis, said the Law Commission had previously recommended extradition decisions be made by judges, not politicians.
This would mean decisions could be made without being influenced by political considerations.
"But the government has chosen not to do that, maybe because it prefers to have control over the decision, because things like foreign trade with China are economically of great value to New Zealand," Ellis said.
He was disappointed the government had chosen to ignore this advice and plans to take Kim's case to the United Nations human rights committee.