this is the minutes of the last two days of my trial in Quebec city. It includes the testimony of two cops and the pleas of the two sides. The next thing will be on thursday at 9h30 AM at the Quebec city Palais de Justice...

september 8th, 2003

hi,
today, we had the end of Sergeant Verge s testimony, then McLaren s (he came from BC to testify against me) and also Patrice Lacombe s one. McLaren repeated once again that he arrested me because I had a red flag and that red flags are used to make signals to the crowd. He also took the time to view a video from the RCMP to note that: there we see him do this movement with his flag, etc. It seems that the crown has lost my red flag and that it was replaced by one that is red but with a hammer and sickle. So I guess the Queen will have to get me a new one! McLaren said that a red flag with hammer and sickle means communism, but that a red flag alone is used as a communication tool for the protesters. The jury will have to decide if they buy his theory that is not what we see on the videos. They have also put my gas mask, soccer ball and some papers in the proof. We saw some videos. There are good chances that the crown s proof will end tomorrow, so after that we will either: present a denfense then plead before the crown; or not present any defense and plead after them. But that is a surprise! So if you want to come to court and you can, it s tomorrow or never. There are the pleas, the deliberation and the verdict left, and maybe the sentence if I am found guilty.

September 9th, 2003

This morning, we had the end of Patrice Lacombe s testimony. He was making comments about a video and it looked like an add for some clothes: so we see the accused who is wearing dark clothes, a gaz mask, a back pack, a small bag around his shoulders, a ball attached to his hip, etc. When I asked him, Lacombe said that he didn t see me commit any act of violence and that it wasn t him that told me my rights and that the cops had the right to break my arm if they wanted to…
And that was the end of the crown s proof. After that, the defense said that we would not present any proof. So it was the crown s turn to plead in front of the jury. Marc-Denis Quintin, the crown prosecutor, came back on the testimonies of his witnesses: Richard Lemay of the Emergency Unit of the SQ spoke about the Summit and the security, and said that the Parc de l Amerique francaise was supposed to be available for protesters to be seen by the 34 heads of State; Robert Verge said that april 20th, 2001 demonstration was the most violent of his carrier (26 years with the SQ) and that the goal of the police was to disperse the crowd, not make arrests; McLaren has observed me 5 minutes before he arrested me and his theory of the red flag is based on two facts: I was in front of the demonstration (which would indicate a line for the protestors not to pass) and after they fired gas, I was “waving my flag aggressively