Criminal charges
against Montrealer who filmed undercover police at Montreal G20 protest to be heard
in court: Charged with armed assault of police with his bicycle, Montreal
man says police lied and destroyed crucial video evidence
Montreal - The trial of a Montreal man who was arrested after taking photos of
undercover police will be heard in court later this week. Scott Weinstein was
arrested on 1 July 2010, during a Montreal march denouncing mass arrests at
the Toronto G20 protests. Julius Grey will appear for the defence in what
promises to be an important political trial.
Weinstein left the march to
take a video of a group of undercover police officers, who were
described as "scary-looking" by another videographer. The undercover
officers had earlier attempted to enter the march, only to be repulsed by
watchful activists concerned about potential violence by police provocateurs.
When Weinstein approached the undercovers, they were walking as a group in a street parallel to the march.
Although Quebec courts have found filming
police to be legal, the members of the SEF (Secteur emploie de la force)
tactique, known as "l'Equipe bravo," surrounded the 52-year old Weinstein,
removed him from his bicycle and took his camera. Weinstein put
up no resistance to the arrest but went into a fetal position on the ground and
yelled for help. He was brought to a police station where he was detained
for several hours.
When Weinstein's camera was returned to him on his release,
the video of the undercovers had been erased. Destruction of criminal evidence
is illegal.
A computer expert was later able to recover still images from
Weinstein's video of the undercover police. The recovered digital data clearly
shows that the video was erased at a time when police had possession of
Weinstein's camera and Weinstein himself was detained. Recovered photos and
video images with their time/date data are available to the media upon request.
Video by others of part of the arrest will also be used for the
defense.
"If my video supported the police claim that they warned me to
back off and I then assaulted them, the police would surely have used the video
evidence against me," states Weinstein. "Instead they destroyed the video
evidence which supports my contention that I did nothing wrong."
Although Weinstein was later charged with assault with a weapon - his
bicycle - the police voluntarily gave the bicycle to Weinstein's friends while
he was being arrested. Had it truly been used as a
weapon, police would have had to keep the bicycle as
evidence.
In the 17 months since the arrest, the Crown has refused the
defense's request to consider dropping the charges.
"It's not acceptable
to send undercover police looking like thugs to intimidate a peaceful
demonstration, especially when there are children and babies, as in this
case," concludes Weinstein.
The trial is scheduled for Wednesday, February 1st at 9
AM, at the Palais de justice, 1 Notre Dame E, Montreal.
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Media Release
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