Ali Radmanesh, an employee of DND, was killed while
on holidays in Cuba last November.
Two Cuban men may face a firing squad after confessing to a series of murders in that country, including the slaying of a Canadian Department of National Defence employee who was gunned down en route to Havana's red-light district last April.
Ali Radmanesh, 55, had just left Havana's airport on April 6, 1998, when he hailed a private taxi instead of a government-licensed vehicle and asked to be taken to the Atlantico Hotel.
Mr. Radmanesh, a civilian defence employee who lived in Ottawa, never checked in. Instead, a joint Ottawa-Cuba police investigation found, two men driving in the taxi -- one posing as a passenger -- offered to let Mr. Radmanesh stay at a private beachside home in an area known for its flourishing sex trade.
But on a deserted road, the taxi driver complained of engine trouble and pulled over. While the driver was tinkering under the hood, his accomplice, seated in the front passenger seat, pulled a handgun on the unsuspecting tourist in the back.
The killer pumped two bullets into Mr. Radmanesh's chest at close range, killing him.
Investigators say the killers took Mr. Radmanesh's jewelry, wallet and money, and dumped his body off a bridge into a river, while a third member of the gang, which had preyed on roughly a dozen tourists over a period of a year, cleaned the taxi at a gas station to cover their tracks.
Cuban police eventually arrested the man who cleaned the taxi and a fourth man, who is accused of selling the weapon to the gunman. They face 20 to 30 years in prison.
Mr. Radmanesh's body was found the next day, but not identified. A month later he was reported missing when he failed to show for work at the DND's patent office, where he had worked for the previous two years.
When contacted, Ottawa-Carleton police launched a missing-persons investigation. After learning Mr. Radmanesh's last known to be in Havana, the police contacted the international law-enforcement agency Interpol.
The file was passed on to Cuban police, but seven months passed before Cuban authorities identified the body. On Nov. 9, a cousin of the slain man -- a physician -- travelled to Havana and identified the body as Mr. Radmanesh.
On Dec. 23, Cuban authorities told Ottawa-Carleton police that the men had been arrested and charged with a dozen murders, including those of two Italian tourists earlier in last year.
No other Canadians were among the victims, but the Cuban authorities needed help tying up loose ends.
"It was a historic request," said regional police major crime Staff Sgt. Bob Pulfer. "A communist country was asking for help in an investigation. It's a first for us."
Eighteen days later, Ottawa-Carleton major-crime Det. Len Alcorn and his partner, RCMP Det. Marc Bolduc, who is seconded to the unit, flew to Havana to assist in the investigation.
They returned late last week, satisfied that the killers of a Canadian citizen were facing justice. During the entire investigation, Det. Alcorn stayed in constant contact with Mr. Radmanesh's family, letting them know how things were progressing.
Family and friends of the slain man thanked the Ottawa-Carleton police for their help in the investigation by buying an classified advertisement in the Citizen thanking Det. Alcorn for doing an "excellent job."
"He was such a nice person and such a hard worker," said Behrooz Ahanin, an Ottawa businessman and friend of Mr. Radmanesh.
Terrence Jabour, an Ottawa lawyer hired by the slain man's family, said Mr. Radmanesh's family expressed relief when they learned police had arrested the suspects.
"It gives the family some satisfaction that this has been resolved," said Mr. Jabour, who was briefed by police about the investigation.
"It's always tough when the family is far away and there's a violent crime. But they are dealing with it as best they can," Mr. Jabour said.
The news of the murder stunned family and friends, who say Mr. Radmanesh was known for taking precautions while on vacation. He carried little money and rarely left hotels at night.
Mr. Radmanesh, who was single, had lived in Ottawa since immigrating from Iran in the mid-1970s. His immediate family lives in Iran. He has worked for the DND for more than 20 years, most recently in its branch that claims patents on defence research and development.
His death has prompted police to issue a warning for anybody travelling to Cuba to use government taxis as opposed to the cheaper, private ones like the one Mr. Radmanesh died in.
"It was a random, robbery-motivated murder," Sgt. Pulfer said. "Avoiding these taxis is something people should take great care to do. If this poor man had got into a different taxi, he may still alive."
Copyright 1998 Ottawa Citizen