Lawyers for five men convicted in the 2006 kidnapping and confinement of a drug kingpin are in court this week appealing the convictions.
In April 2010 the accused were found guilty in the abduction of Peter Li, Li's wife, Jennifer Pan, and Li's friend, Xiao Cheng.
The three victims were taken from Li's Burnaby apartment and held in a Richmond home for 25 days, during which Li and Cheng were repeatedly beaten and Tasered.
Li, who is serving a 13-year jail term for drug-trafficking, arranged for $1.3 million in ransom to be paid in money drops in Vancouver, Toronto and China.
The money has never been recovered. It's believed to be the biggest un-recovered ransom in Canada.
On Monday, a lawyer for one of the leaders of the group began submissions on an appeal scheduled to run four days.
Simon Buck, who represents Yat Fung Albert Tse, told a three-member panel of the B.C. Court of Appeal that his arguments would focus on the kidnapping phase of the crime.
He argued that the trial judge, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Barry Davies, made several errors in his reasons for judgment.
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