Achi news desk-
LETHBRIDGE, Alta. –
The Crown prosecutor prosecuting three men charged with mischief in the border standoff in Coutts, Alta., told jurors Tuesday that they did not have to decide that the accused are leading in the protest in order to find them guilty.
Steven Johnston said if jurors are satisfied the three clearly supported the siege, they should be convicted of mischief over $5,000.
“The right to protest does not allow you to lay siege to a property for two weeks. It wasn’t their highway to close it,” Johnston said.
“One act, one statement of encouragement can be enough to convict him.
“The Crown does not have to prove that these men were the leaders.”
Johnston made the comment during closing arguments in the trial of Alex Van Herk, Marco Van Huigenbos, and Gerhard Janzen in Lethbridge, Alta.
The Crown said evidence showed the accused were key players and became the faces of the blockade that tied up traffic at the Canada-US border crossing at Coutts for two weeks in early 2022 in protest of the rules and restrictions of COVID-19.
Johnston said the accused clearly supported the siege. He told jurors that the three spoke on behalf of protesters, and that the evidence “should leave you in no doubt that these men are guilty.”
“They use the words, ‘We – Coutts convoy,'” Johnston said.
“They are not just messengers. They use the words, ‘Ni, ein a ni.'”
Defense lawyers called no evidence during the trial, and the accused did not testify.
However, when cross-examining witnesses, the defense argued that the trio were innocent because the demonstration included a number of strong-willed protesters who did not always agree publicly and sometimes went their separate ways.
The prosecution called a handful of witnesses, including Mounties who were at the siege
Officers testified that, as the protest dragged on, its leadership had coalesced around the accused, and the police increasingly turned to them to negotiate.
Sergeant. Greg Tulloch told the court that he had worked to establish a dialogue with the protesters and identified Van Huigenbos as the main contact.
During Tulloch’s cross-examination, a lawyer for Van Huigenbos questioned whether his client was really a leader or just a conduit delivering messages to those in charge.
“Have you ever heard the phrase, ‘Don’t shoot the messenger?’ I’m going to suggest that’s what Marco really was here. He was a messenger, a communicator, a spokesman for the group – not a leader,” lawyer Ryan Durran told Tulloch.
Tulloch replied: “That is much too simplistic from the impression I had. Because when things were happening, they happened immediately after Marco said he would do something or pass on a message.”
Tulloch claimed that he considered Van Huigenbos to be at the top of the inner ring of the protest, followed by Janzen and, to a lesser extent, Van Herk.
The defense pointed to a video from the protesters’ gathering place, Smuggler’s Saloon, where Van Herk is seen asking for a vote to try to get everyone to leave but is met with vocal opposition.
“I don’t care, let them come,” said one man on the video.
“The only way I’m leaving is in a (police) cruiser,” said another.
The former mayor of Coutts, Jim Willett, was asked under cross-examination if any one group was in charge of the protest.
“It was a bunch of people I didn’t know, driving a bunch of upset vehicles. That’s the impression I got,” said Willett.
This report was first published by The Canadian Press on April 16, 2024.
