Court proceedings against a man alleged to be a Russian spy will resume next week in Montreal after a judge granted a delay in the case on Wednesday.

A Federal Court justice heard that the man, known as Paul William Hampel, had trouble making contact with his lawyers following his arrest in Montreal last week. The court case will resume next Tuesday.

The man, shown in a drawing, appears in Federal Court in Montreal.
(Atalante/CP)

Stephane Handfield, one of his lawyers, said earlier this week that he would seek a delay in proceedings because he needed more time to study the evidence against his client.

According to documents filed with the court by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service on Monday, the man has lived in Canada for more than a decade under a false identity.

CSIS has asked the court to deport the man on grounds he is a danger to national security and used a fraudulent Ontario birth certificate to get three Canadian passports.

The Canadian spy agency said the man is a foreign national who is an agent with Russia's Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki, or SVR, the successor spy agency to the KGB of the former Soviet Union.

He carried a Canadian passport in the name Paul William Hampel.
(CP)

On Tuesday, Handfield said he received a 100-page summary of evidence against his client this week and was only able to meet him face to face on Sunday.

The man was arrested on Nov. 14 by border security officers at Montreal's Pierre Elliot Trudeau airport.

He was carrying $7,800 in five currencies, several cellphones and a shortwave radio.

With files from the Canadian Press