A Canada Federal Court justice announced Thursday he had granted Chinese fugitive Lai Changxing's application for judicial review of his pre-removal risk assessment (PRRA).

"I shall therefore grant the application for judicial review, .. . I have concluded that the PRRA decision, though well reasoned and quite comprehensive, ...is deficient in its assessment of the risk of torture," Justice Yves de Montigny said in a press release published on the internet.

In an 81-page order, the justice briefed basic facts and issues about Lai's case, and stated reasons for his order. The PRRA officer "erred by failing to determine the assurances (made by the Chinese government on not to torture Lai) met the essential requirements to make them meaningful and reliable," the justice concluded.

Since the justice's order has in fact overturned the PRRA, the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration, which was responsible for the PRRA, can now either appeal for the case, or it will have to carry out a new assessment, Federal Court spokesman Andrew Baumberg told Xinhua Thursday during a telephone interview after the release of the order.

The PRRA decision was released on May 11, 2006. It concluded that Lai was unlikely to face a risk to life, a risk of torture, or a risk of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment if returned back China. Lai was set to be removed on June 2, 2006, but he sought a stay of his removal before court, alleging he was biased in the PRRA.

Lai, 54, was accused of being the mastermind of a criminal ring which had conducted, in collaboration with corrupt officials, the biggest smuggling operation uncovered in China since 1949.

He fled to Canada with his family in 1999 and launched a bid for refugee status but has been denied all the way up the Supreme Court of Canada.

Source: Xinhua