The trial for three alleged organizers of the 2022 Coutts border blockade continues today in Lethbridge, Alberta. Yesterday’s proceedings saw veteran RCMP officer Mark Wielgosz testify about his experience responding to the protest.
Alex Van Herk, Marco Van Huigenbos, and George Janzen are each facing up to 10 years behind bars for their roles in the peaceful demonstration. Each of the men are being charged with mischief over $5000 for their involvement in the protest.
The Coutts blockade was an 18-day peaceful demonstration against government-imposed COVID-19 restrictions held at the border of Coutts, Alberta and Sweet Grass, Montana in early 2022.
Halting millions of dollars in trade and occurring concurrently with the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa, the protest proved to be one of the most effective Canada has seen in decades.
Rebel News reporter Robert Kraychik is on the ground at the Lethbridge courthouse, providing independent reporting on the trial of the Coutts Three.
Follow along below for live updates from the trial:
Crown plays a Rebel News video clip of the defendants in Coutts, in which @marco_huigenbos calls for maintenance of peaceful assembly and says they “condemn all individual acts of violence and intimidation”, and seek to protect “the future of this province [and] this country.”
— Robert Kraychik (@rkraychik) April 5, 2024
Justice Keith Yamauchi, the presiding judge in the Coutts Three trial, seems like a very sensible, competent, fair-minded man (my layperson’s opinion). Some lawyers who know much more than I have also shared this view of him with me, including their impressions of his reputation.
— Robert Kraychik (@rkraychik) April 5, 2024
Friday’s proceedings will begin shortly for the Coutts Three in Lethbridge, AB. The day should begin with some more questions and cross-examination of Crown witness Mark Wielgosz, an RCMP officer who worked as a sort of liaison with the protesters in 2022. https://t.co/mIhJKvGq4E
— Robert Kraychik (@rkraychik) April 5, 2024
