MONTREAL — A close friend of Lin Jun testifying Monday at the preliminary hearing of Luka Magnotta asked that his name not be made public because he is “between jobs.”
But Quebec Court Judge Lori-Renée Weitzman rejected the request from Dong Dong Xu, 30, the 26th witness to testify at the hearing as it resumed Monday after a one-week break.
A publication ban still remains in effect on all the evidence heard at the preliminary hearing – a routine order from the court at this stage of the proceedings.
As has been the case since the hearing began March 11, many spectators lined up early in order to get one of 24 seats reserved for spectators.
The hearing resumes this afternoon with witnesses from Vancouver, who will testify via video conference. Witnesses from Europe are scheduled to testify Tuesday.
Magnotta, 30, faces four charges in connection with the May 25 death of 33-year-old Chinese national Lin, including causing an indignity to a body, producing and distributing obscene material and sending obscene material through the postal system. He was arrested in June in an Internet café in Berlin and brought back to Canada on a private flight.
Once all the evidence has been presented, Weitzman will rule on whether the case can be sent to trial. If so, Magnotta will be tried some time next year in Quebec Superior Court by a judge and jury.
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