Luka Rocco Magnotta expected to make first court appearance in Berlin
MONTREAL - Canadian fugitive Luka Rocco Magnotta is expected to make his first court appearance in Berlin today, a day after an international manhunt ended with his capture in the German capital.
CAUTION: GRAPHIC CONTENT MAY DISTURB SOME READERS.
The appearance is expected to start the potentially protracted process to extradite the 29-year-old porn actor back to Montreal to face charges in the grisly slaying and dismemberment of a Chinese national who was studying at Concordia University.
Magnotta faces five charges, including first-degree murder, in the death of the Jun Lin.
It's unclear, however, when Magnotta will return to Canada.
Quebec's bureau of prosecutions will be sending a request in the coming days to Canada's federal justice minister for Magnotta's extradition, asking that it be forwarded to German officials.
Rene Verret, a spokesman for the bureau, said if Magnotta doesn't contest the order, he could be returned to Canada within a couple of weeks.
But if Magnotta fights the extradition, the process could take years, he said.
The fact that Canada doesn't have the death penalty, however, should eliminate at least one hurdle in the process.
Magnotta was arrested after reading news reports about himself for about two hours at an Internet cafe in a seedy part of Berlin yesterday.
The Ontario native was identified by a cafe employee who recognized him from his photo in media reports.
His capture came less than a week after police issued a warrant for his arrest in connection with Lin's death — a macabre killing that grabbed international headlines and shocked people around world.
London's Telegraph called him the "Canadian Psycho," while the National Enquirer labelled him the "Psycho cannibal gay porn killer."
Lin's torso was found stuffed inside a suitcase on a Montreal curb outside Magnotta's apartment building last Tuesday. Other body parts, including a hand and foot, were mailed separately to the offices of political parties in Ottawa.
Montreal police said Magnotta fled Canada for France about a day after Lin's death, which is believed to have occurred sometime overnight between May 24 and May 25.
Magnotta was seen in Paris over the weekend — more than 1,000 kilometres from Berlin — and, after several days of police work from forces on two continents, authorities finally apprehended him without incident.
A Berlin police spokesman said Magnotta initially tried to give officers false names, but then conceded: "OK, you got me."
