Not Guilty - Non-Status Migrants and Supporters are Acquitted

No One Is Illegal-Montreal News and Events Digest

FEBRUARY 27, 2006

::::: NOT GUILTY! :::::

More than two years after being brutalized by police in Ottawa, non-status migrants and supporters are acquitted

OTTAWA, February 24, 2006: Today, 12 protesters involved with the Action Committee of Non-Status Algerians were acquitted of mischief in relation to the occupation of the Immigration Minister's offices in downtown Ottawa on May 29, 2003, more than two-and-a-half years ago.

The "not-guilty" verdict, for all 12 defendants, was greeted with loud cheers and applause. The courtroom, crammed with more than sixty supporters from Ottawa, Gatineau, Montreal and Toronto, broke into the chant: "So-so-so, solidarité, avec, avec, avec les sans-statut!"

Immediately after the verdict, one non-status defendant denounced, at the top of his voice, the police brutality and racism that was exhibited during the original arrests of the protesters in 2003: after spending almost ten-hours in demanding a meeting with the Minister or a senior-level official, an Ottawa-police tactical squad invaded the office, and used tasers (electrical guns) to shock four protesters, while others were beaten with open fists.

The office occupation, as the verdict today makes clear, was always an assertive and valid expression of the demands of the protesters. In the end, it is the police that should answer for their brutality, and still haven't been forced to do so.

[Photos from the courthouse today, as well as photos attesting to the police brutality, and the struggle of the Action Committee of Non-Status Algerians since 2002, are available at: http://gallery.cmaq.net/ottawaverdict]

* * *

The defendants at trial today were Tarik Abderrahim, Noreddine Argoub, Nourdine Belhadj, Zoheir Belaroui, Amokrane Benmeziane, Fawzi Hoceni, Djamel Ouchfoun, Fouad Rebai, all non-status Algerians living in Canada; as well as Sarita Ahooja and Andrea Schmidt, who were active supporters of the Action Committee of Non-Status Algerians/Le Comité d'action des sans-statut algériens (CASS). Many of the non-status defendants are still fighting for status in Canada.

Two defendants - Mohamed Cherfi and Djamel Meziani - could not be present, because they were deported before trial. Mohamed Cherfi, the public spokesperson for the CASS, was forced to take sanctuary inside the St-Pierre Church in Quebec City in February 2004, in order to prevent a deportation order. However, his sanctuary was forcibly violated by police on March 5, 2004, and he was immediately removed to the United States. He spent more than one year in prison before being accepted as a refugee by the United States (a status he and hundreds of others were denied by the Canadian government).

Cherfi was informed immediately of the verdict today by cellphone in Burlington, Vermont, where he still awaits his return to Quebec. (After the verdict, supporters chanted: "Ramenez Cherfi, son pays est ici! Ramenez Meziani, son pays est ici!).

The not-guilty verdict comes after a long trial. The length of the trial was partially blamed by the trial judge - Ann Alder -- on the senior Crown lawyer in the case. The judge underlined the delays in disclosure by the Crown - David Elhadad -- that prolonged the trial. However, the Judge's verdict did not deal substantively with the claim by the demonstrators that the police used excessive and brutal force in making the original arrests.

At trial, the defendants were represented by a legal team comprised of Montreal lawyers Denis Barette and Pascal Lescarbeau, as well as Ottawa lawyer Yavar Hameed.

* * *

The original protest took place on May 29, 2003, when a delegation of non-status Algerians from Montreal, accompanied by supporters, took their demands directly to the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration in Ottawa. The office occupation was consistent with many previous actions and protests organized by the CASS since early 2002.

The protesters went straight into the Minister's office, and demanded a meeting. They spent the entire afternoon and evening waiting for a meaningful response. Instead, the police intervened. Shortly after 10pm, about 30 members of the Ottawa Police Services tactical squad, in coordination with the RCMP, charged the people occupying the waiting room. After forcing them to the ground, the police beat and tasered many of the men on their necks, backs, torsos and genitals. One man was bashed on the head with the butt of a taser gun, leaving a large gash on his forehead. Another man lost a tooth as a result of being punched in the face by a police officer. Several people have taser burns on the backs of their neck, backs and arms.

During the arrests and processing, the police made several racist and belittling comments. The police seemed to justify their use of tasers and elevated force, against unarmed and non-violent protesters – who were preparing to leave the office -- as a training operation, and even filmed the arrests.

[A video of the brutal arrest is available at: http://taktic.org/~john/CASS.mp4.mov
The clicking sound on the video is the use of the electrical guns on several protesters; the later images show the solidarity demonstration outside.]

Outside the office occupation, supporters had gathered to show their solidarity. Three of those supporters were eventually arrested too: Francine Dumas and her daughter Michele Marois of Gatineau, and Paul Smith of Ottawa. All their legal matters have been settled – Paul Smith won a complaint against the police for their use of a taser against him -- and all three were in court today.

The trial showed clearly that the protesters were focussed on their demands, and did not commit "mischief" by any legal definition. Importantly, the evidence showed that senior level officials in the office of then-Immigration Minister Denis Coderre were well aware of the presence of protesters in the office, and were thereby complicit in the eventual police operation and brutality.

* * *

In the end, while finding the defendants "not guilty" of mischief, the judge indicated she would have found the protesters guilty of the lesser crime of "trespassing" (if that charge had been laid). The verdict, while absolving the defendants of criminal charges, clearly does not resolve many fundamental injustices of this affair: Why were non-status Algerian migrants essentially tortured in order to be arrested on a minor charge? Why were the charges even allowed to proceed in the first place? And, why haven't the demands of the non-status Algerians on May 29, 2003 been recognized and acted upon by the Canadian government?

The verdict should not cloud the main demands that the Action Committee of Non-Status Algerians and their supporters have made clear for more than four years: the immediate regularization of all non-status Algerians living in Canada, as well as the return of those non-status Algerians who were removed from Canada against their will.

That struggle, for fundamental justice and dignity, still continues, even while the defendants and their supporters enjoy this meaningful legal victory.

-- No One Is Illegal-Montreal
noii-montreal@resist.ca - 514-859-9023

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PHOTO ESSAY --> http://gallery.cmaq.net/ottawaverdict

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10 Acquitted in Sit-in: Algerian natives cheer not-guilty verdict on mischief charges in 2003 incident

http://ottsun.canoe.ca/News/OttawaAndRegion/2006/02/25/1461434-sun.html

By SEAN MCKIBBON, OTTAWA SUN

CHANTING and applause rang out in the Elgin St. courthouse yesterday as supporters cheered 10 people acquitted of mischief charges in connection with a 2003 Citizenship and Immigration sit-in.

"Sol-sol-sol! Soliderite! Avec, avec les sans statut!" supporters shouted following the ruling of Justice Anne Alder. It was the same chant shouted by the protesters when they occupied a reception area for 10 hours on May 29, 2003, demanding to speak with then-minister Denis Coderre.

Alder ruled the protesters, who were trying to call attention to the problems of Algerian refugee claimants, could not be said to have interfered with the office employees' lawful enjoyment of the
premises.

Citing testimony by a number of witnesses, Alder said the employees had continued working and only stopped after police came and moved them out.

One employee testified the group was calm and polite, Alder said.

NO RULING ON COMPLAINT

Because of the acquittal, Alder chose not to rule on an application by defence lawyers to have the entire case dismissed based on alleged breaches to the Charter rights of the protesters. The protesters complained Ottawa police tasered and brutalized them when they moved into the office and made arrests.

"I think it's a tremendous day for non-status Algerians," said Sarita Ahooja, 33, one of two Canadian citizens who was among the acquitted protesters. Ahooja said the ruling should stand as a lesson to both Canadians and people without citizenship status that they have the right to freedom of expression and political protest. "What it says is justice can be obtained."

Ahooja said the protesters had been trying to highlight the problems faced by some Algerians living in Canada who do not have refugee status, Canadian citizenship or landed immigrant status.

"It's a huge relief," said acquitted protester Nourdine Belhadj, 36, of the decision. An Algerian living in Canada without status, Belhadj said his biggest complaint was the uncertainty of his position in Canada.

A pizza joint owner, Belhadj said he just wants to lead a productive life. Without a decision in his criminal proceedings, he said he hadn't been able to resolve his status with Citizenship and
Immigration Canada.

Others acquitted by Alders' ruling yesterday were Tarik Abderrahim, 35, Noreddine Argoub, 39, Amokrane Benmeziane, 39, Fawzi Hoceni, 26, Jamel Ouchfoun, 32, Fouad Rebai, 32, Andrea Schmidt, 30, and Zoheir Belaroui, 36. Two other men charged in the incident, Mohamed Cherfi,
36, and Djamal Meziana, 37, were already deported.

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Judge acquits 10 Algerians of mischief: Group occupied office of immigration minister
OTTAWA CITIZEN
By Tony Lofaro
Page: D10
Date: 2006

Cheers erupted yesterday in an Ottawa courtroom after an Ontario Court Justice acquitted 10 Algerians on trial for occupying the office of then Immigration Minister Denis Coderre three years ago.

The Algerians, who were seeking refugee status when they were arrested in a waiting room at the minister's office in May 2003, were acquitted on a charge of mischief. In her decision, Justice Ann Alder said the Algerians did not interfere with the operation of Mr. Coderre's Laurier Avenue office.

"It proved that we didn't create mischief," said Fawzi Hoceini, 25, one of the accused, who is from Montreal. "We were there just to talk and to get some respect, but we did not get it that day."

He said he was happy with the decision, but in the interim, two of the accused have been deported.

On May 29, 2003, a delegation of 12 Algerians went to speak to Mr. Coderre about their status. At the time, about 1,000 Algerians were facing deportation after the federal government lifted a ban on such deportations in 2001.

They occupied the office for about nine hours before the tactical unit of the Ottawa police arrested them.