Four people accused of attempting to kill Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers during demonstrations in Coutts, Alberta, will be tried in the same trial, prosecutors Aaron Rankin and Matt Dalidowicz announced.
The four men, who each face charges of attempted murder, unauthorized possession of a firearm and mischief against the property of another, appeared briefly in court in Lethbridge on April 25.
Ten other people facing less serious cases also emerged.
According to prosecutor Matt Dalidowicz, the files of three of the co-defendants fast forwardand the Crown must intervene in a short time.
While waiting for them to be ready for their trial, the Court refused to allow the fourth defendant to set a date for the start of his trial. He is still incarcerated, as he was denied parole in March.
The defense lawyers of the 14 men and women charged by the prosecution also demanded that they provide the documents used to justify the search warrants conducted as part of the national gendarmerie’s investigation.
In February, while the blockade of Coutts was underway, the RCMP raided trailers near the protest site on the Canada-US border. This search resulted in the discovery and seizure of a cache of weapons and bulletproof vests.
A connection to white supremacists
Two of the four accused of the assassination attempt on the gendarmes were linked to white supremacist groups. During the search, the RCMP discovered on bullet-proof vests insignia of Diagolon, a prominent far-right militia in the United States.
According to David Hofmann, a professor at the University of New Brunswick, the will of members linked to this extremist group is to establish a white nationalist state through violence.
With information from Meghan Grant
Source: Radio-Canada
