This week, the continuation of the trial of Giovanni Stante and of the demonstrators arrested at the G20 demo, a motion for a class action in respect to a mass arrest at Berri square and a proforma hearing for the people accused of occupying the college of Vieux-Montreal

This week on the judiciary calender,
the court hearings for June 17 until June 21 2002

(please note that all hearing are starting at 9h30 a.m., except when specified otherwise)

JUNE 17 to JUNE 2002 :

*TRIAL OF GIOVANNI STANTE *
Palais de justice of Montreal, room 3.01

The trial of the policeman Giovanni Stante continues for the 8th week in a row before judge and jury. Last week, the attorneys for the Crown continued to present their evidence and the ocurt could hear the testimonies of sergeant Yves Larcoques, constables Pascale Tremblay, and of the doctors Ecatharina Koutroularas and Jean-Louis Caron. The cross-examination of Dr. Caron will continue Monday June 10 2002.

Cst Giovanni Stante had violently beaten Jean-Pierre Lizotte before the terasse of the Shed Café, on St-Laurent boulevard, in the night of Sept. 4 and 5, 1999. M. Lizotte became paralized from his feeth to his head and died as a consequence of his injurys, on Oct. 16, 1999. Cst Stante, who had been suspended without pay, is facing charges of « manslaughter », « assault » and « assault causing bodily harm ».

To know more details on the Lizotte Affair, check the special section related to the covering of Giovanni’s Stante trial on COBP’s web site :

http://www.tao.ca/~cobp/index.html

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JUNE 17 and 18, 2002:

*Authorization for Class Action Suit*
Superior Court at the Montreal Court House

In a hot night in the summer of 1996, 77 people were arrested in Berri Square. On July 29 of this said year, the then MUC police had handed out fines to persons who passed the night in this public place at the invitation of the collective Food Not Bombs for a midnight snack, denouncing the annual social cleansing against marginalized people.

This cleansing of anyone who appears marginalized by the police whenever different festivals draw near is so well-known that it have become folkloric for even the observers, even the most conservative.

When the police hand out tickets, they don't have an automatic power to arrest. However, the pretext found by the police officers of this mass arrest was to issue a ticket for having been found in a park when its was "closed".

After contesting in front of the municipal court these tickets, it turned out that Berri Square was never a park at the time of tickets were issued. It was rather a public place. And since public places in the city were open 24 hours a day until July 29, 1999. All tickets issued in Berri Square in virtue of the ruling on parks in regards to opening hours for the time period between July 29, 1996 and July 29 1999 are invalid.

This is the foundation of a petition to authroize a class action suit filed on July 29, 1999 which requests a financial compensation from the City of Montreal and the defunct SPCUM, which is now melted into the City of Montreal since it became the Montreal Police Department. Thus every person received a ticket for being in Berri Square outside the opening hours in the period beginning July 29th, 1996 and up to July 29th, 1999, could and we insist by saying could, get a financial compensation at the end of a long process for which we will know if it is authorized by the Court following the hearing held at the Superior Court on June 17, 18, 2002.

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JUNE 18, 2002:

*The 23 of G-20*
Montreal Municipal Court House

Continuation of the trial of about 20 people accused of « mischief », « disturbing the peace », and of « breach of probation » in some cases, in respect to the demonstration against the meeting of the G20, at the Sheraton Hotel, in Montréal, on Oct. 23 2000.

The three days of hearing of last week allowed to hear the testimony of sergeant-detective Serge Laplante, which cross-examination isn’t over yet, and also to watch the videos filmed by Montreal police and Quebec’s provincial police. Other trial dates should be set, probably in automn, for the continuation of the trial.

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JUNE 20, 2002:

*Occupation of CEGEP Vieux-Montreal*
Montreal Municipal Court

The second pro forma court appearance for 15 of the 16 peoples who were arrested on March 16, 2002 during the police intervention, which put an end to the three-day occupation of the administration's offices at the CEGEP Vieux-Montreal. All the people charges face charges of "trespassing" and "mischief of less than $5000." Note that the 16th person charges appeared in Juvenile Court for the first time on June 11, 2002.