Ontario court grants extradition of Sri Lankan gang leader arrested in Toronto last year

An Ontario judge has granted the extradition of a Sri Lankan gang leader arrested in Toronto last year for his alleged role in a deadly attack on a rival gang near Paris in 2022.

Prasanna Nallalingam, detained at the Toronto South Detention Centre, will be surrendered to France after 30 days, pending the approval of Canada’s minister of justice.

According to an uncontested record of the case, on Sept. 21, 2022, Nallalingam supplied four members of the AAVA gang with weapons and instructed them to drive to La Courneuve, a commune located in the northern suburbs of Paris, to “smash up a vehicle” of a rival gang.

Just before midnight, the group travelled to La Courneuve in two cars. Four men, alleged to be Nallalingam’s associates, were observed on security footage exiting one of the vehicles and using sabres, machetes and knives to attack the rival car and, eventually, its occupants. One person, purported to be Nallalingam by his lawyers, remained inside one of the two vehicles while the attack was carried out.

When they arrived at the scene, French authorities found two victims “in agony.” One later succumbed to their injuries.

Nallalingam was arrested in Toronto in May 2024 after failing to appear for an immigration hearing. Within weeks, France applied to have him extradited on an outstanding arrest warrant.

Friday’s hearing largely came down to a narrow issue: whether French authorities had gathered sufficient evidence that Nallalingam had intended for his associates to attack the vehicle’s occupants.

Nallalingam’s defence lawyers admitted their client had instructed the AAVA members to smash the car — but argued a lack of evidence that he’d known it would escalate any further.

“What France is asking you to do, is to find that because this man is the leader of AAVA, anything that was done, was done on an order from him,” defence counsel Mark Ertel told Superior Court Justice Mohan Sharma. “Without  evidence of how this gang operates, that would be a leap.”

Crown Attorney Kiron Gill, appearing on behalf of the Republic of France, argued that having orchestrated the incident as the leader of the AAVA gang, it was reasonable to infer, considering his history of violence and lengthy criminal record, Nallalingam had intended to inflict harm on his rivals.

Nallalingam is wanted for murder in Sri Lanka in connection with the 2016 killing of Sivakumaran Jeewarathna. Sri Lankan authorities say they believe he fled the country to France sometime after the incident.

At the time of the attack in Le Courneuve, Nallalingam was also already known to French authorities — in 2021, he was sentenced by the Paris Criminal Court to three years in prison, two of which were suspended, for participating in a raid on a restaurant in Paris. The final year of his sentence was never enforced, according to the public prosecutor.

In December 2022, court documents state, Nallalingam entered Canada from the U.S. using a fraudulent name at an unauthorized checkpoint on Roxham Road in Quebec. It is not clear how or when Nallalingam entered the U.S.

As in all cases, the final decision on Nallalingam’s extradition lies with the federal minister of justice, who can receive submissions to halt the process or impose additional conditions for up to thirty days. The decision can also be appealed in Ontario’s top court. In that case, a person cannot be extradited until after the appeal court has made a final decision on the extradition process.

Counsel for Nallalingam say they intend to make submissions to the minister and pursue further avenues to halt his surrender to France.

Source: The Star
--Agencies