Anti-sanitation leader Mario Roy, who has been at war with the Barreau du Quebec for several years, was acquitted on Friday of two charges of criminal harassment and intimidation against a person linked to the justice system.
Posted 4:39pm Updated 5:10pm
The verdict was reached by a jury that took almost 72 hours to deliberate after a week-long trial.
The allegations, against which the 51-year-old had to defend himself, had led to his arrest and preventive detention for around 120 days in the spring and summer of 2021. He was one of the figureheads and had started wearing and selling biker-style leather jackets to sell his fund attorney fees.
Eventually, Mr. Roy defended himself in court and bluntly fired a criminal defense attorney he had hired.
“It’s going to cost her dearly. I will be seeking $5,000 a day in jail compensation, plus $520 a day for lost earnings, plus gas, parking and transportation costs for the trial,” he announced after his acquittal.
At the head of the organization called the Citizen Anti-Corruption Unit, Mr. Roy is investigating the Department of Youth Protection (DPJ), which he describes as a “child abduction network” which works with lawyers and officials to take custody of children from their parents. On his Facebook account, which reached several thousand Internet users before it was shut down, he claimed for a long time that he wanted to use gun license holders to arrest “corrupt” judges and lawyers.
His mission quickly led him to the Barreau du Québec, which successfully prosecuted him for illegally practicing the legal profession. From his first encounters with the organization, Mr. Roy released several videos in which he aggressively denounced two bar attorneys who were investigating his practices, calling them “corrupt people” and “criminals,” specifically targeting one attorney who he described as “badly fucked”. “bitch” and “jug”. A very extensive publication ban prohibits us from naming these lawyers, as well as a dozen other lawyers, five judges and others who were directly or indirectly involved in this case.
Judge Myriam Lachance refused to admit into evidence several videos Mr Roy wanted to produce to prove the existence of this so-called “child abduction network”, ruling that they were irrelevant to the debate over criminal molestation and intimidation charges he had to face defend.
On the contrary, Mr. Roy claimed that they were necessary to understand the “thoroughly corrupt system” with which the Barreau du Québec attacked him and his organization.
The former Farfadaas member, who is still awaiting verdict in another mischief trial over the 2021 Louis Hippolyte-La Fontaine tunnel blockage with Steeve Charland and Karol Tardif, says he will now “turn the page” and its Citizen shut down Anti-Corruption Investigative Unit. “We live in a system of dirty rot. I’ll pick me up,” announced Mr. Roy.
“I hope that the Justice Department will really investigate what happens to crimes committed by lawyers in the juvenile division,” he added. I reported him for a long time and it came out during my trial. I hope that the Barreau du Québec and journalists and lawyers will start showing me a little respect. »
“The reality is that it was the investigator from the Barreau du Québec who wanted to shut up the director of the Citizen Anti-Corruption Investigation Unit. It was nothing else. That was the proof. I’m investigating a child abduction ring, the truth will come out and people will be forced to compensate me,” he concluded.
The Barreau du Quebec said it was “very disappointed with today’s decision”. “It is now up to the Chief of Law and Law Enforcement to analyze the case and make the decision to appeal. For its part, the Bar Association will continue to take care of its employees,” said the organization’s communications director, Hélène Bisson, via email.
Correction: An earlier version of this text incorrectly stated that Mr. Roy’s fired criminal defense attorney had been assigned to him. Rather, it was Mr. Roy who hired him. Mr. Roy also intends to seek $520 a day detention for lost income, rather than $120. We apologize.