Story highlights
Luka Rocco Magnotta appeared in court Thursday
The suspect "trusts the Canadian judicial system," his lawyer says
Magnotta is charged with killing and dismembering a Chinese student
He has pleaded not guilty to all charges
A Canadian porn actor suspected of killing and dismembering a university student in Montreal pleaded not guilty Tuesday to all the charges against him, the prosecution office in Quebec said.
Luka Rocco Magnotta, 29, faces first-degree murder and other charges in the death and dismemberment of Jun Lin, a 33-year-old Concordia University student from China.
Ahead of the hearing, police said Magnotta would appear in the Montreal courtroom via video link.
“The information we get is that he was asked to be there by his counsel,” Boucher said.
Authorities accuse Magnotta of dismembering Lin and mailing his hand and foot to Canadian politicians. Police also believe Magnotta filmed the death and dismemberment and posted the video to the Internet. They have said the video shows Magnotta engaged in sexual acts involving body parts and includes evidence of cannibalism.
Investigators say Magnotta fled to France and then Germany, where he was arrested while browsing articles about himself at an Internet cafe in Berlin. Magnotta did not fight extradition and was flown back to Canada on Monday.
“Mr. Magnotta waived his rights to extradition because he wanted to come back to Montreal,” said his attorney, Luc Leclair. “He trusts the Canadian judicial system.”
Lin’s family, who traveled from their Chinese village to Canada to reclaim their son’s remains, has met with prosecutors but did not attend he hearing, Boucher said.
“We want to make sure that they will get the information about the process, to make sure that they know what happened and that we care about them,” he said. “So we will continue to get in touch with them so that they get the information.”
Leclair did not request a mental examination of his client, as had been expected. Prosecutors asked Judge Jean-Pierre Boyer to bar the publication of details of medication Magnotta was taking, however.
Authorities believe that Magnotta killed Lin on May 24 or 25, posted the video and then flew to France on May 26. He was thought to have boarded a bus to Berlin on June 1 while police were searching for him in Paris, Berlin prosecutors have said.
The sick fascination with a death video
The case began when a caller complained to police about a strong smell coming from an alley behind Magnotta’s Montreal apartment building, Lafreniere has said. Investigators found a torso stuffed inside a suitcase.
The same day, officials at Canada’s Conservative Party headquarters received a package addressed to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper that contained a foot. Officials later intercepted a package addressed to the Liberal Party that contained a hand. DNA tests showed both were Lin’s, Lafreniere has said. The victim’s head is still missing.
DNA tests showed both were Lin’s, police said. The victim’s head is still missing.
A gay porn actor, stripper and escort, Magnotta was well known to animal rights activists online, who accused him of killing kittens and using the carcasses in sexual acts.