The Coalition against Repression and Police Abuse (CRAP) denounces the whitewash given to Jean-Loup Lapointe -the officer who killed 18 year old Fredy Villanueva on the 9th of August 2008 in Montreal North- that stands as the latest proof that in Quebec police impunity is alive and well. During a press conference Louis Dionne, the director of criminal and penal prosecusion, announced that no accusasions will be laid against officer Lapointe and his partner Stephanie Pilotte since they haven't commited any "criminal infractions". We will continue to demand justice for Fredy and that officer Lapointe should be accused for commiting the crime of shooting 4 bullets at unarmed youth, who where playing a game of dice in Henri-Bourassa Park, which left one victim dead and two others wounded.(...)
These are a few of the reasons for which we will have another demonstration in Montreal-North, on Saturday the 13th of December 2008 at 2PM in Henri-Bourassa Park (corner of Pascal and Roland).

Official statement of the Coalition against Repression and Police Abuse (CRAP)

Police killings, a biased inquiry, impunity... NEVER AGAIN!

Montreal, December 3rd, 2008-The Coalition against Repression and Police Abuse (CRAP) denounces the whitewash given to Jean-Loup Lapointe -the officer who killed 18 year old Fredy Villanueva on the 9th of August 2008 in Montreal North- that stands as the latest proof that in Quebec police impunity is alive and well. During a press conference Louis Dionne, the director of criminal and penal prosecusion, announced that no accusasions will be laid against officer Lapointe and his partner Stephanie Pilotte since they haven't commited any "criminal infractions". We will continue to demand justice for Fredy and that officer Lapointe should be accused for commiting the crime of shooting 4 bullets at unarmed youth, who where playing a game of dice in Henri-Bourassa Park, which left one victim dead and two others wounded.
The results of an inquiry produced by the SQ are insulting, but not surprising since they had no credibility from the beginning. In effect, when the police inquire on the police the results are always the same: a police inquiry confirms the police version of the event and the prosecuters can just whitewash the officers. This is why out of the 43 people killed by the Montreal Police since 1987, only 4 cases exist where the officers were accused: 2 officers were aquitted (Gosset et Stante), in one case an officer was found guilty and penalized with community service (Markovic) and in the Barnabe Affair the officers were found guilty, but they were then re-integrated into the police force. Furthermore, Francois Briere, the prosecutor who told the media the police version of the murder of Fredy at the press conference, is the same person who had decided not to press charges against Thibert and Bordeleau who had killed Quilem Registre by discharging 6 electric shocks from a taser gun in October 2007 in St. Michel! The conclusion was predictable since the beginning.
Jacques Dupuis, the Minister of Public Security and the Minister of Justice then announced a public inquiry that is supposed to allow us to learn more into the death of Fredy, but it is nothing more then a tiny consolation in the denial of justice which constitutes the refusal to press charges against cops who kill. We are glad to hear that the Villanueva family will file a civil suit against the City of Montreal and officer Lapointe, it being one of the only legal avenues in which to obtain justice.
Finally, we would like to underline that this announcement had been made the same day as a vigil to support the Bennis family, for whom it has been 3 years since there son Anas was shot dead by officer Yannick Bernier in Cotes-des-Neiges. However, in this fatal incendent as in moreso all of the other cases of police killings where there is no rioting or windows being smashed, Minister Dupuis has never ordered a public inquiry to proceed. Presently the Bennis family is in a battle with the Montreal Fraternity of Police who would like to prevent a public inquiry, the same way they did in the Case of Michel Berniquez, killed in 2003 by the police in Montreal-North...
These are a few of the reasons for which we will have another demonstration in Montreal-North, on Saturday the 13th of December 2008 at 2PM in Henri-Bourassa Park (corner of Pascal and Roland).

Truth and Justice for Fredy Villaneuva and his loved ones! Lapointe is Guilty!

For more information: coal...@hotmail.fr