This week, the Germinal 7 will receive the verdict follwoing their trial last March, an activist who had been since last Friday May 17 will have its bail hearing, more proforma for March 15 2002 arrestees and the continuation of constable Giovanni Stante’s trial.

This week on the judiciary calender,
the hearings for the dates of May 21 to May 24 2002 :

(please note that all the hearings are started at 9h30 except when specified otherwise)

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MAI 21 2002 :

*May 17th demo for Germinal *
Montreal Municipal Court

Bail hearing for the only demonstrator who was arrested following the little demo in support of the Germinal 7. The cops arrested him Friday May 17th with a lot of violence because a municipal court judge ordered him to participate in any demonstrations following his other arrest alobng with 81 other demonstrators, at the September 29 2001 demo.

The bail hearing is taking place while the accused has been in detention for the fifth day, only because he showed at a demonstration, nothing else ! And now, our friend is being charged with eight counts of « breach of conditions » and tow counts of « assault on a police officer » (like they do each time the cops use force to arrest someone, they throw this charge at their victim).

Il this accused is now facing so much counts of « breach of conditions », that’s because he has been arrested at two other demos earlier this year and charged with breaking his condition not to participate in any demonstrations : during the March 15th demo, and at the G8 preventative mass arrests of April 26th. So each time police arrested him, the Court had always ended up releasing him while adding more conditions, which explains the amazing total of eight counts of « breach of condition » for a demo of about fifty people that stayed very quiet.

Each time it gets more difficult for our comrade to get bail. Our friend Manuel Almeida risk a lot right now and he needs our support, so please show up in numbers at the bail hearing !

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MAY 21, 2002:

*The Germinal 7*
Quebec City Courthouse

The Judge Pierre Rousseau will render his verdict in relation to serious charges of which seven members of the Germinal group face. The charges are "conspiracy to commit mischief that could cause a real danger to the life of people", "possession of explosive material" juste to "the purchase of military goods from her Majesty the Queen".

The evidence heard during the trial, which finally last but four days, from March 25 to20, 2002. The testimony included two infiltrator RCMP agents, André Viel and Nicolas Tremblay, and two experts, a chemist André Brazeau and the Captain Roger Blanchard from the Canadian Armed Forces, and two of the accused, Mario Bertoncini and Alex Boissonneault.

Entering the game, the defence admitted the participation of the accused for "conspiracy". The main burden of the prosecution is to convince the Judge Roussezu that a "conspiracy" could constitute "a real danger for the live of people". To settle the question, the Judge has to determine is the accused had the real intention to use Molotov cocktails during the demonstration against the Summit of the Americas, from April 20 to 22, 2002, which Bertoncini and Boissonneault denied during their testimony.

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MAY 21 TO 24 2002 :

*TRIAL IN LIZOTTE’S AFFAIR*
Palais de justice de Montréal, room 3.01

Continuation of the trial before judge and jury of the policeman Giovanni Stante who is charged with « manslaughter », « assault » and « assault causing in bodily harm » on the person of Jean-Pierre Lizotte, who died from it on October 16 1999. The trial is now in its fourth week of eight weeks.

The other week, the prosection continued to present his evidence. The jury heard constable Sylvain Fouquet, who was the patrol partner of the accused, on May 15th and May 16th. Cst Fouquet has never been charged with a criminal count regarding this case. A civilian witness has also been heard the next day, May 17th.

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MAY 21, 22 and 23, 2002 :

*The arrestees of March 15 2002 :*
Montreal Municipal Court

First court appearances for people arrested during the International Day Against Police Brutality demonstration on March 15, 2002, which ended up with 371 arrests. Around 170 people will go before a Judge at the Montreal Municipal Court to answer to the only charges of having participated in an "Unlawful Assembly". 103 of the other people are minors and as for them they might be accused in Juvenile court and seven other people face charges more serious charges of the Montreal Court House.

Last week, following the proforma hearings of May 16 th and May 17th, a new hearing has been set for October 15th. The prosecution has continued to disclose its evidence by giving to the defense many police rapports.

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MAY 22, 2002:

*Occupation of CEGEP du Vieux Montréal*
Montreal Municipal Court

First court appearance for the majority of persons arrested during the occupation of the head offices of the CEGEP du Vieux-Montréal. The occupation which lasted 61 hours, ended with a police intervention in the middle of the night of March 15, 2002, which resulted in the arrest of all the occupants, that is to say 16 people. The 16 arrested face charges of "mischief of less than $5550" and "trespassing".

To note however is that one of the 16 people arrested appeared in court while still detained on March 18 and will appear again on May 11, 2002, as well as another person who is a minor.

The occupation action fits into the national campaign lead by the Association pour la Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante -ASSÉ (Union Solidarity Student Association) which notably is making demands for a massive reinvestment in education and a stop to market subjugation of education.