Surrendering your passport while awaiting trial isn't unheard of though, right? If they think you're a flight risk, your movements will be limited. In this cas

Surrendering your passport while awaiting trial isn't unheard of though, right? If they think you're a flight risk, your movements will be limited. In this case they want to talk to him but he's already fled, so by cancelling his passport they're trying to limit further movement by him. Regardless, having a passport doesn't magically grant you the ability to move around as you wish. It's up to the destination country (and countries you're transiting perhaps) to decide if they want to accept your passport as a form of ID. I'm sure countries have accepted plenty of people without a passport (asylum seekers, people moving around Europe, etc.).