(OTTAWA) A Canadian Armed Forces officer who urged other service members not to participate in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines has pleaded guilty to “conduct to the prejudice of good order and discipline.”
Posted at 12:42 p.m.
Officer Cadet Laszlo Kenderesi pleaded guilty to that charge alone Thursday morning at the start of his court-martial trial at the military base in Borden, Ontario. He did, however, plead not guilty to the charge of having “conducted himself in a manner scandalous and unworthy of an officer”.
Military prosecutors also withdrew a third count, that of “trying to persuade a person to take part in a mutiny”, a charge that could have earned him life in prison.
The court martial follows a speech given at a rally against lockdowns in December 2020 in Toronto. Mr Kenderesi, dressed in his full military uniform, then spoke out against what he called “killer vaccines”.
In a video of the speech posted on YouTube, he also appeared to encourage other service members to disobey orders and not distribute the vaccine to Canadians.
Thursday morning, in an apology read at court-martial, Mr. Kenderesi indicated that he regretted his actions which, according to him, brought discredit to the Armed Forces. He admitted that it was not his place to question orders from his chain of command.