MONTREAL – The wife of a Quebec man who has been stuck in Cuba for 14 months after being involved in a boating accident that killed a fellow tourist says she’s considering taking legal action against the Canadian government in a bid to help bring him home.
Kahina Bensaadi says Cuban authorities have refused to allow her husband to return to his home north of Montreal even though a conviction and four-year sentence stemming from the accident were overturned and he is no longer in custody.
She wants Ottawa to pressure Cuban authorities to allow her husband to come back to Canada while the case is reinvestigated, but says they haven’t been much help so far.
READ MORE: Canadian tourist facing four years in Cuban jail has conviction overturned, says wife
Her lawyer, Julius Grey, says the family will decide in the next week whether to seek a declaratory action against Ottawa that would put pressure on authorities to take action.
Bensaadi’s husband, Toufik Benhamiche, was driving a small boat as part of a tourist excursion in July 2017 in Cayo Coco when it veered out of control and fatally struck a woman from Ontario.
Bensaadi says that earlier this summer, Cuba’s highest court found flaws in a lower court’s handling of the case and reversed all its decisions, including Benhamiche’s conviction on a charge of criminal negligence causing death.
WATCH: B.C. police officers detained in Cuba in connection with alleged sexual assault face criminal charges
A spokesperson for the Canadian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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