The obstinacy of anti-vaccine activist François Amalega Bitondo in not respecting the conditions of release imposed on him by the courts ended up costing him dearly. The 43-year-old man, who represents himself without a lawyer, will remain imprisoned at least until April 27, following a cascade of consequences that he himself caused.
Posted at 5:12 p.m.
Figurehead of the anti-mask movement, Mr. Amalega Bitondo was arrested on January 16, in front of the house of Radio-Canada, when he tried to approach Prime Minister François Legault when he left an interview at Everybody talks about it. He was then subject to two court orders, issued in quick succession in November, after his arrest in Shawinigan and Trois-Rivières, specifically prohibiting him from approaching the Prime Minister.
He was appearing this Tuesday before Judge Simon Ricard after the Crown had requested the revocation of his freedom for non-compliance with the conditions which had been imposed on him by a judge from Trois-Rivières in November. Mr. Amalega was already in prison in Bordeaux, following his arrest in Montreal for non-compliance with the same conditions.
The judge refused to release him until his trial on the merits, the date of which was set for April 27.
“There is a marked probability” that he will once again violate the conditions prohibiting him from approaching Mr. Legault, ruled the judge. “His insistence and stubbornness [à s’approcher du premier ministre] cause a training hazard that poses a security risk to the prime minister,” he added.
The activist, who categorically refuses to wear a mask in court for “reasons of conscience”, continues to claim that the health decrees are illegal and refuses to comply with them. He tries to attack, alone and without the slightest knowledge of the legal procedure, their validity each time he finds himself before a judge.
He accused the judge on Tuesday of “lacking courage” because he refused to consider the validity of the health decrees and the conditions of release, according to him “undemocratic”, which were imposed on him. “That’s not the question I had to decide today,” replied the magistrate, after strongly advising him to hire a lawyer for the rest of the proceedings.
Mr. Amalega Bitondo will also have to stand trial in Shawinigan, Joliette and Montreal for similar charges. Last October, he was found guilty of obstructing the work of the police by the Municipal Court of Montreal, following a muscular arrest in a grocery store where he had presented himself without a mask to defy sanitary measures. Judge Randall Richmond concluded that Mr. Amalega Bitondo had “shot himself in the foot” through his actions, his “grossly exaggerated” argument and his insistence on civil disobedience.