Calgary police said Monday they were compiling evidence for the Crown to determine whether charges should be laid against a former adviser to Prime Minister Stephen Harper for comments Tom Flanagan made suggesting WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should be assassinated.
The Calgary police are the first to act on public complaints against Flanagan, who is a political-science professor at the University of Calgary.
"Due to a number of calls we have received from the public regarding this matter, the Calgary Police Service will be compiling all facts and compiling a package that will be forwarded to the Crown prosecutor's office for review," said Supt. Kevan Stuart in a prepared statement. "The Crown's office will then determine if this is a criminal matter."
Flanagan, appearing on the CBC program Power & Politics last week, told host Evan Solomon that he thought Assange "should be assassinated, actually. I think (U.S. President Barack) Obama should put out a contract and maybe use a drone or something."
Flanagan retracted his statement two days later, apologizing for the "glib" comment and saying it shouldn't have been taken seriously.
On Saturday, Vancouver lawyer Gail Davidson submitted a complaint to police in that city, asking them to review whether or not Flanagan was inciting murder with his comments.
Section 464 of the Criminal Code of Canada makes it a crime to "counsel another person to commit an indictable offence," regardless of whether the offence in question is committed.
However, Const. Jana McGuinness confirmed Monday that, after reviewing the complaint, Vancouver police would not follow up as it falls outside of their jurisdiction.
McGuinness said they referred Davidson to the RCMP, who in turn said Monday that any complaints they receive would be directed to the Calgary police.
Flanagan has faced criticism from a host of sources, from University of Calgary alumni who drafted a petition calling for him to be censured — the university has since said it would not pursue any disciplinary action against the professor — to Harper spokesman Dimitri Soudas, who said Flanagan's comments were "simply not acceptable, whether they were serious or not."
The petition, published in the Calgary Herald last week and sent to university president Elizabeth Cannon on Monday, was signed by more than 60 alumni and said Flanagan's comments had tarnished the school's reputation.
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http://www.canada.com/news/Stephen+Harper+aide+Flanagan+being+investigated+assassination+crack/3935098/story.html#ixzz17NesxRJD
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