A North Vancouver man who has been languishing for three years without trial in a Mexican jail tried to commit suicide after being told his troubled case will suffer another lengthy delay, according to his wife.
Jirina Kuliskova says her husband, Pavel Kulisek, tried to hang himself after being denied a psychiatrist and being told that he would be in prison for at least another eight months, with no sight of a trial yet.
"He gave up," said Kuliskova. "And I'm hoping he gave up for just that moment. That he's not going to give up and he's going to fight again. I want him to fight again."
Kuliskova is begging for high-level help from the Canadian government to put pressure on the Mexicans to move more quickly and bring her family hope they will be reunited again soon, she said.
Pavel Kulisek and his family were on a vacation in Mexico three years ago. Kulisek's ATV buddy turned out to be a member of a Mexican drug cartel, and he was arrested on suspicion of being a member of organized crime.
The case against Kulisek hinges on the evidence of a corrupt former police officer and an investigation put together by a disgraced former prosecutor, who has been charged with being on the take from a rival drug cartel, according to a W5 investigation.
Kulisek's Canadian lawyer has said that the only evidence against him would have been tossed out by a Canadian court long ago.
But delays in the Mexican system – where, unlike in Canada, the accused are expected to sit in jail by default – have piled up to the point where Kulisek has served three years in Punta Grande, a maximum security prison near Guadalajara.
The Kulisek's MP, Conservative Andrew Saxton, said he was aware of the suicide attempt since last week.
Saxton visited Kulisek in prison more than a year ago and says Canadian officials are doing what they can.
"We have to allow the Mexican justice system to run its course. I certainly hope it's a fair and just system and a just decision," he told CTV News.
But when CTV News called the Mexican consulate in Vancouver and the Mexican embassy in Ottawa, officials there said no Canadians had contacted them about improving conditions in the prison and bringing Kulisek a speedy trial.
Though phone calls between Kulisek and his wife and two daughters have been positive, it was clear that Kulisek knew he was depressed, his wife says.
Kulisek had asked for a psychiatrist six weeks ago from the prison and from Canadian consular officials, who provide him regular visits. He didn't get one, she said.
When the news came in that another delay would mean the earliest he would be able to deal with a minor court issue would be eight months from now – with no trial date set – it may have been the last straw, she said.
"It just really seems like suddenly he snapped," she said.
Kulisek survived the ordeal, and prison officials are contemplating moving him to a medical facility, she said.
Apart from the update from Canadian consular officials, she has had few updates on the medical condition of her husband, and the family's doctor was initially denied a chance to visit.
"This is something that just shouldn't be happening. And someone should actually be doing something," Kuliskova said.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Jon Woodward
For more on this story, watch Jailed without Justice on W5 Saturday night
