Photo: The Canadian Press
The Crown is trying to revoke the bail for Tamara Lich, leader of the “Freedom Convoy,” after she appeared alongside a fellow organizer in an alleged breach of her terms.
Lich was charged in February with mischief, obstructing police, advising others to commit misdemeanors and intimidation for her role in the massive protest against COVID-19 restrictions that blocked downtown Ottawa for more than three weeks.
She was released the following month with a long list of conditions, including an order not to communicate with key convoy organizers except through a lawyer or in the presence of a lawyer. He was also banned from using all social media.
Crown prosecutor Moiz Karimjee told an Ottawa court Tuesday that Lich violated one of his conditions when she was seen with her protesting partner Tom Marazzo at a recent gala, where she accepted an award for organizing the protest.
She argued that she should be arrested.
Lich’s lawyer, Lawrence Greenspon, said he would challenge the revocation of Lich’s bail and demand his conditional release.
Det. of the Ottawa Police. Chris Benson, who is the protagonist of the Lich case, told the court he reviewed the video of Lich and Marazzo appearing together at the awards gala.
Greenspon asked Benson if he knew of any other evidence that Lich and Marazzo were communicating before or after the brief video interaction, which took place in “less than three seconds.”
He asked the detective if he was aware of the presence of lawyers from the Center for Justice for Constitutional Freedoms, some of whom act as his lawyers in civil matters.
Benson said he believed a photograph showing Lich, Marazzo and others posing together at the award ceremony shows that he breached their conditions due to their physical proximity to him.
Lich remotely monitored the audience from an Ontario detention center, watching video conferencing and listening from a cell phone to his blond hair with a high dock.
Both Marazzo and Lich were key spokesmen for the winter convoy protest. Marazzo is also the leader of a group called Veterans 4 Freedom, which organized several demonstrations in Ottawa over Canada Day weekend.
Police applied for an arrest warrant across Canada for Lich for alleged breach of his bail conditions and he was arrested last week in Medicine Hat, Alta., Where he lives.
Benson said she oversaw Lich’s transportation from Alberta to Ottawa after she was arrested.
Lich’s bail, whose identity is protected by a court-ordered ban on publication, said they met Lich and Marazzo’s photo a few days after the event and immediately contacted Lich to worry. I know that a possible breach of bail conditions has taken place. place.
The endorsement explained that Lich assured them that there was a lawyer at the gala.
Greenspon noted that the evidence presented against Lich to argue that she broke the bail condition consisted of a very brief congratulatory interaction between her and Marazzo, adding that the lawyers approved the photo and were only off-camera.
He argued that Benson did not provide any evidence that contradicted the terms of the bail conditions.
“These actions were so minimal that they amount to not being prosecuted, let alone convicted,” he said.
The purpose of the bail condition was not to prevent the brief interaction and photo that took place, Greenspon said; rather, it was to avoid an event similar to the one that took place in Ottawa earlier this year. He argued that the interactions in question do not run the risk of recidivism.
The matter should have been taken to a court remand hearing or some other appeal instead of the order across Canada that has led to Lich’s detention for nine days, he said, and pointed to an email electronic showing that the Crown called for the expansion of an initial Ontario. broad mandate.
Justice of the Peace Paul Harris reserved his decision until the next court appearance on Friday.
Lich is charged with her role in the “Freedom Convoy” along with a co-defendant, Chris Barber, who remains on bail.
On Tuesday morning, Barber’s attorney was banned from posting court documents showing Barber’s cell phone communications, except those containing Lich.