Tamara Lich, one of the main organizers of the “freedom convoy”, has been arrested in Alberta on a Canada-wide warrant for violating her legal conditions, Ottawa police said.
Police said Tuesday they will be sent back to Ottawa to appear in court.
Eric Granger, one of Tamara Lich’s lawyers, confirmed the arrest in an email Monday evening and added that they were awaiting further details, but the arrest appeared to be related to bail conditions for Lich. his client.
He could not confirm the location of the arrest, but another lawyer who also represented Tamara Lich, Keith Wilson, said on Twitter that the arrest took place Monday in Medicine Hat, Alta., where she lives. .
Medicine Hat police did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the arrest.
A judge initially denied Tamara Lich bail after she was arrested during the protest that paralyzed downtown Ottawa for more than three weeks in February, but she was released in March after a bail review. the court’s decision.
Tamara Lich and fellow protest organizer Chris Barber are jointly charged with mischief, obstructing police, counseling others to commit mischief and intimidation.
She was released with a long list of conditions, including a ban on all social media and an order not to “support anything related to the freedom convoy”.
“We are not aware of anything that could have caused this and we are surprised by this development given the recent bail review hearing in Ontario, where Ms. Lich’s positive record of meeting her conditions was one of the reasons some of his terms were relaxed at that time,” Granger wrote in an email to The Canadian Press.
In May, an Ontario judge ruled that Tamara Lich could remain free on bail until her trial, after a Crown prosecutor argued that she had violated one of the conditions of her bail. bail by agreeing to receive an award for her leadership during the Ottawa protest, and that she should be remanded behind bars pending her court appearance.
Ontario Superior Court Judge Kevin Phillips said he made his decision because Tamara Lich had complied with her bail conditions, her surety was watching her well, and she had already had a “taste of prison,” which he said reduced his risk of recidivism.
Judge Phillips changed his release conditions to allow him to visit Ottawa, but not downtown. He, however, maintained the ban on Tamara Lich’s access to social media, saying the ban on such access remained justified.