Killer Luka Magnotta seeks transfer from maximum-security prison

CTV National News: A notorious killer's demand Glen McGregor has the story of convicted killer Luka Magnotta who's demanding to be transferred out of a maximum-security prison in Que.

Convicted killer Luka Magnotta is taking the federal government to court to compel his transfer out of a maximum-security prison in Quebec to a medium-security facility.

Magnotta is serving a life sentence for first-degree murder in the 2012 killing of Chinese student Jun Lin in Montreal. The grisly killing, with acts of necrophilia and cannibalism recorded on video and posted online, made international headlines.

In documents filed in Federal Court on Monday, Magnotta’s lawyer says the Correctional Service of Canada in June denied his request for a transfer from the maximum-security Port-Cartier Institution on Quebec’s north shore but has yet to rule on a grievance he filed over the decision.

The application says Magnotta was told a decision on the grievance wouldn’t be made until May 2022, even though the Corrections and Release Act requires “an efficient and expeditious grievance procedure.”

Magnotta’s application demands the service release all documents related to the grievance.

Parts of Lin’s dismembered body were sent to federal politicians. A package containing a foot was received at the Conservative Party headquarters in Ottawa.

The case triggered a global manhunt for Magnotta, who was eventually arrested in an internet cafe in Berlin, Germany in June 2012.

At trial, he admitted to the killing but claimed he was not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder. Magnotta, now age 39, was convicted in December 2014 and sentenced to life with no eligibility for parole for 25 years.