FINALLY FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER REPLIED TO MY JANUARY 4 LETTER ABOUT IMPRISONED MONIKA SCHAEFER
Today, several others and I received the same nothing burger of a response to our letters urging the government to take actions to secure Monika Schaefer’s freedom. She was arrested January 3 in Munich while attending the trial of dissident free speech lawyer Sylvia Stolz. She has still not been charged with anything. It took Miss Freeland’s department a mere two months to provide this empty answer.
The letter uses the bureaucratic subterfuge of “right to privacy” to evade answering questions. Our letters were not seeking details of Monika’s’ love life!
We already knew she’d been visited by the Canadian consulate in Munich.
I urge you to continue writing to Chrystia Freeland and your MP. Ask specifically that the Canadian Government intervene and seek her immediate release and, if the government of Germany has issues with her, her speedy return to Canada.
* Write to Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and urge her to protest Monika’s arrest to the German Government and urge her to press for Monika’s immediate release.
Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Foreign Affairs.
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
chrystia.freeland@parl.gc.ca
Telephone: 613-992-5234
Fax: 613-996-9607
Paul Fromm
Director
CANADIAN ASSOCIATION FOR FREE EXPRESSION
Mr. Paul Fromm
Director, Canadian Association for Free Expression
Dear Mr. Fromm:
I am writing in response to your correspondence of January 7 and 17, 2018, addressed to the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Foreign Affairs, regarding the detention of Ms. Monika Schaefer in Germany.
Thank you for sharing your concerns with us.
While the Privacy Act prevents me from sharing details about Ms. Schaefer’s case, we can advise that consular assistance is being provided to her. For more information on the type of consular assistance that can be provided to Canadian citizens detained abroad, I encourage you to consult the following publication: http://travel.gc.ca/travelling/publications/guide-for-canadians-imprisoned-abroad.
Sincerely,
Kirill Kagner
Director, Consular Case Management
Consular Operations Bureau