Superior Court extradites convicted murderer living in Toronto to Romania

Convicted murderer extradited to Romania A man living in North York will be extradited to Romania after being convicted of stabbing a professional wrestler to death in 1992.

A fugitive killer found hiding in Toronto has been ordered back to his native country five-and-a-half years after he was discovered here.

Members of the Toronto Police Fugitive Squad found Givan Iusein, 48, living in a townhouse near Don Mills Road and Finch Avenue in February 2013.

Iusein had been convicted of stabbing a professional wrestler to death in Romania in 1992 and was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Two years after the murder, his sentence was interrupted so he could receive medical treatment. He was supposed to return to prison 21 months later, but instead fled to Canada where he had been living previously.

According to a ruling released by Superior Court Justice Kenneth Campbell last week, Iusein had first arrived in Canada in 1988. He met his wife two years later, became a permanent resident of Canada and, in 1992, the couple gave birth to a son.

That summer, Iusein returned to Romania for a visit.

"On the night of July 10, 1992, the applicant became involved, together with three of his friends, in a dispute that culminated in the stabbing death of Mihail Tudorascu," Campbell wrote. "Subsequently, the applicant and his three co-accused were tried, in the Constanta Court of Justice, on a charge of murder for their respective roles in the killing and, in 1993, they were convicted of that offence."

After returning to Canada in the late 90s, Iusein lied to immigration authorities about his visit to Romania and did not mention the fact that he had been convicted of and sentenced for murder, Campbell wrote.

Despite the apparent suspicions of an immigration officer and the fact that he was convicted of assault, Iusein was granted Canadian citizenship.

Following his arrest by the fugitive squad in 2013, Iusein was released on bail, but breached his conditions and went disappeared, only to be re-arrested by Toronto police in 2015.

He has been in custody ever since, arguing to have his application for extradition stayed on the grounds that, according to him, he had been beaten, tortured and sexually assaulted by Romanian authorities following his arrest and coerced into giving a false confession.

Iusein had claimed he was subjected to "violent and painful beatings...torturous 'punishments,' which included being handcuffed and chained to a chair in a kneeling position for hours, being water-boarded while blindfolded horizontally in chair, hung naked by his wrists from ceiling pipes while cold water was poured over his body, having his testicles subjected to electric shocks, and repeatedly sexually assaulted by the prosecutor," Campbell wrote. "I do not accept any of this evidence. In my view, this litany of abuse did not happen, and was simply manufactured by the applicant, in order to avoid being returned to Romania to serve the remainder of his sentence for murder."

Campbell added that Iusein had "already been fairly tried and convicted" of murder and that "there is a compelling public interest in having offenders who are convicted of such crimes serve their lawfully imposed sentences – in the country where they committed the offence. Canada cannot become a sanctuary for convicted murderers from other countries."

Iusein's lawyer David Parry said Tuesday that Iusein has not yet decided whether he wants to appeal Campbell's decision to have the extradition to Romania go ahead or whether he wants to make submissions to the Minister of Justice to intervene.

Regardless, Parry said, Iusein remains committed to "clearing his name," be it in Romania or Canada.