Members of the Hells Angels and their alleged accomplices, from whom the police seized a multitude of property in the spring during waves of searches carried out as part of a major anti-drug investigation, are opposed to these objects being held for another ten month, while the police continue their investigation.
What there is to know
- Since the Supreme Court (2016) handed down the Jordan ruling, which limits judicial delays, police forces have adapted and are carrying out more searches during investigations before making arrests.
- During these searches, the police seize evidence which they retain for the duration of their investigation. The prosecution must go to court if it wants to obtain additional retention periods.
- In a major ongoing organized crime investigation, the prosecution is asking to keep seized property for another year, which lawyers for the suspects, including influential Hells Angels, dispute.
An approach taken before the court by the suspects’ lawyers could have an impact for the police, the prosecution, and even the fight against organized crime in general, whereas since the Supreme Court has limited the duration of legal proceedings (Jordan judgment ), investigators increase the number of searches during the investigation, so that the prosecution is ready to disclose most of the evidence as soon as the individuals appear, so as not to waste court time.
Among these individuals who contest the long retention of their property, we find Hells Angels Martin Robert, Stéphane Plouffe, Rob Barletta, Michel Lamontagne and Gilles Lambert.
A lawyer also represents the interests of the estate of Francesco Del Balso, a former lieutenant of the Rizzuto clan of the mafia who rallied to the bikers and was shot and killed on June 5 in Montreal.
More than 60 searches
As part of an investigation called Ravager, investigators from the National Organized Crime Squad (ENRCO) carried out more than 60 searches and notably seized from these individuals and their alleged accomplices dozens of cell phones, SIM cards, computers, electronic tablets, USB keys, banking, company or transaction documents, DVDs, jewelry and clothing bearing the image of the Hells Angels, Rolex, Cartier watches and other valuable objects.
“Hundreds of documents were seized and around 165 computer elements, some of which will only be accessible in a few months. At the end of the searches, other judicial authorizations are to come and several computer items seized require additional authorizations,” wrote an investigator on July 3 in an affidavit attached to a request from the prosecution which asks that the seized items are still held until June 19, 2024.
An attack on their rights
The lawyers representing the suspects argue that the prosecution should have requested an extension of detention of the seized items for a period of three months, and not a year in one go, “an attack and an additional encroachment on the rights of [leurs] customers,” they proclaim.
They rail against the fact that the motion and the investigator’s affidavit are “90% redacted”, they say, which prevents them from adequately defending the rights of their clients and goes against the law. procedural fairness.
“There is an evolution in their practices [les policiers] at the level of the articles of the law on the retention of seized property and it is because of Jordan. We are presented with requests that are longer and longer and more and more redacted. I believe that Mr. Plouffe and all the people who are told that their property will be seized for a year have the right to know why,” declared Mr.e Christian Gauthier, lawyer for Hells Angel Stéphane Plouffe, during a hearing Monday morning at the Montreal courthouse.
“How do I cross-examine the affiant [enquêteur qui a rédigé la déclaration au soutien des mandats] if I don’t know anything? There is a void,” added the criminalist.
Me Philippe Knerr, who represents another individual, Rhéal Dallaire, for example raised the fact that the police seized several pieces of jewelry from his client, that these were perhaps acquired outside the period of the alleged offenses, but that he cannot know because of the redaction.
The investigation must be protected
For its part, the prosecution has no intention of backing down.
She pleads privilege and protection of the ongoing investigation to justify the fact that several passages of her request and the statement of the affiant investigator are redacted.
“Considering the nature of several of the assets seized, the complex nature of the investigation, the reasonableness of the requested period, considering the tasks to be performed, and the benefits of granting this period for the continuation of the case, the applicant [poursuite] submits that the one-year period requested by him and the seizing party, i.e. until June 19, 2024, should be granted,” the prosecutors from the Serious Crime and Special Affairs Bureau also write in their request.
The debate, which is to last three days, takes place before Judge Antoine Piché of the Court of Quebec.
To contact Daniel Renaud, call 514 285-7000, ext. 4918, write to [email protected] or write to the postal address of The Press.