Criminal Law

R. v. Ruzic

Marijana Ruzic, a Yugoslav citizen, was arrested and charged with unlawfully importing heroin into Canada. She committed the offence only because a man in Belgrade, where she lived in an apartment with her mother, had threatened to harm her mother unless she brought the heroin to Canada.

At trial, Ruzic argued that because she committed the offence under duress, she should be relieved of criminal responsibility. Her claim of duress however did not meet the presence and immediacy requirements of s. 17 of the Criminal Code. When Ruzic committed the offence, the man who was threatening her was not present and she was not under threat of immediate death or bodily harm. Ruzic successfully argued that s. 17 of the Code was unconstitutional because it violated her right to security of the person under s. 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. She was acquitted at trial.

The Crown's appeals to the Ontario Court of Appeal and to the Supreme Court of Canada were both dismissed and the trial judge's acquittal was upheld. The Supreme Court held that s. 17 of the Code breached s. 7 of the Charter because the immediacy and presence requirements precluded the defence in situations where threats were directed at third parties or were of future harm. The Court also said that the trial judge was correct in holding that the common law defence of duress was available to Ruzic and that it did not contain the same restrictions as s. 17 of the Criminal Code.

Ruzic was represented by Frank Addario

Click here to read the Supreme Court's decision