Canada's minister of state of foreign affairs Diane Ablonczy has stepped in on behalf of Philip Halliday.
The Digby man has been in Spanish jail for two years now since his arrest on drug trafficking charges in December 2009.
"It's a rarity," says his wife Sheree about the letter. "My caseworker told me there are many many Canadians detained abroad and they don't get letters written on their behalf very often."
Sheree says her caseworker at foreign affairs told her that a letter from Ablonczy to the new Prime Minister of Spain, Mariano Rajoy Brey, was hand delivered Wednesday, Jan. 18.
Sheree says the Canadian minister asked "that on compassionate humanitarian grounds and due to serious health conditions Mr. Halliday receive a timely trial."
Brey replaced José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero on Dec. 20 and Sheree assumes Ablonczy waited until the new leader was in place to send the letter.
Phone calls and emails to the minister's office were not returned by press time.
"It's some good news," says Sheree. "Nothing has moved for two years so it's nice to see something happening."
Her husband was arrested Dec. 21, 2009 just off the Spanish coast. He was the first mate on the Destiny Empress when Spanish authorities boarded the ship and found 1.5 metric tons of cocaine. Halliday has maintained he believed they were delivering an empty ship to buyers in Europe and he did not know the drugs were aboard.
Philip has suffered from gall blader, liver and kidney problems since his incarceration.
Philip and seven others arrested with him still have no trail date. They were in court in November when the prosecution asked for another two years to prepare their case.
The Spanish court granted that extension and the Hallidays now have some more insight into why. Philip received a letter from another accused from Romania who was in court for the same November hearing. The Romanian understands Spanish better than Philip and wrote to tell him what his lawyer had said in court.
The other accused says Philip's lawyer told the judges that he would be willing to plead guilty in exchange for a lesser sentence. Philip does not want to plead guilty or make any plea bargains.
The Hallidays have since, with great difficulty, managed to fire that lawyer and have retained Kevin Burke in Halifax to fly to Spain and meet with two new lawyers.
Sheree originally retained Warren Zimmer before he was promoted to the bench, then she retained the Spanish lawyer and now the new lawyers and Burke bring her total legal costs thus far to $85,000.
"And there's no end in sight," says Sheree. "I'm broke. I'm really hoping it wouldn't come to this."
Sheree has put up the family home for sale and plans to rent from her son Daren who owns the house next door but is living in Halifax.
On the Facebook group Friends and Family of Philip Halliday, members have begun a pledge campaign to help Sheree with the legal costs. At least two dozen people have so far pledged to deposit between $10 and $20 a month in an account at the Royal Bank for Sheree.
"I'm just selling the house privately for now," says Sheree. "I haven't really sat down and figured out how long I can wait before I list it. I'm just taking it one day at a time."
jriley@digbycourier.ca
