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the fifth estate: Scandal of the Century
The Update> Printer Version
Broadcast
February 25, 2004
STORY
UPDATE
The allegations
against Richard Klassen and his family were devastating. To his astonishment
the Saskatchewan government refused to acknowledge the kids' retractions.
He was still labelled as a sex offender and child molester.
Klassen became obsessed with reversing the legal injustice. First he started
protesting, then he became his own lawyer and started filing motions.
He and social activist Sheila Steele developed their own website,
Injusticebusters and started collecting evidence
to support his story. He filed a $10 million lawsuit against the Saskatchewan
government in 1994.
On December 30, 2003 the Klassens had finally won their case. The judge
ruled that they had in fact been victims of malicious prosecution. It
was an unqualified vindication, at last.
Amazingly, after all the turmoil that the Ross children caused for his
family, Richard Klassen refuses to blame them for what happened, especially
the girls.
Richard Klassen: You can't help but feel
for them. They have nothing.
The experience has taken a large toll on Klassen. He's been addicted to
sleeping pills and anti-depressants and says he is subject to self-destructive
mood swings. Two years ago he found out he had prostate cancer but postponed
the treatment until after the trial.
Richard
Klassen:
I went too far. It become an obsession that affected my family, it affected
my life, affected my brain, affected me.
The Saskatchewan government is appealing the decision saying the judgment
stretched the boundaries of malicious prosecution too far. But the wrongly
accused have been granted an interim payment of 1.5 million in the meantime.
TOP
the fifth estate:
Scandal of the Century
Originally Broadcast on January 23, 2002
Updated on Wednesday, February 25, 2004
on CBC-TV at 9PM
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