(Montreal) A lawyer for the United States government told Quebec’s highest court on Thursday that the country should be safe from prosecution for the infamous brainwashing experiments at McGill University from the 1940s to the 1940s. 1960.

The US government says it cannot be prosecuted for the project known as MK-ULTRA — allegedly funded by the Canadian government and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) — because foreign states enjoyed absolute immunity against prosecution in Canada during this period.

The court case stems from a class action lawsuit filed against McGill University, Montreal’s Royal Victoria Hospital and the Canadian and U.S. governments alleging that Montrealers were given experimental drugs, rounds of electroshock and were deprived of sleep for weeks.

Last August, the Superior Court of Quebec granted a request by the United States government to be removed from the case, and the survivors and their families are appealing this decision.

Class action lawyer Jeff Orenstein believes that Canada’s State Immunity Act of 1982, which outlines how foreign states can be sued in the country, is retroactive and may apply in this case.

The class action alleges that the Government of Canada funded psychiatric treatment by Dr. Ewen Cameron at the Allan Memorial Institute between 1948 and 1964 that was allegedly part of the secret CIA brainwashing program MK-ULTRA.