(Quebec) PQ MP Véronique Hivon wants parliamentarians to urgently take up a mandate of initiative to hear key witnesses who will explain how a secret criminal trial could be held in Quebec. According to her, the revelations made by The Press are “the equivalent of a nuclear bomb for the justice system”.
Posted at 4:28 p.m.
“It completely calls into question the foundations of the justice system in a democratic society, that is to say the knowledge and transparency of justice to ensure respect for rights and processes. […] It is so serious what we have learned, we must as elected officials, as guardians of democracy in Quebec, take up this issue in committee, ”she says.
In a letter sent to the Committee on Institutions on Tuesday, Mrme Hivon asks him to seize a mandate of initiative and to invite the Minister of Justice, deputy ministers, the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions, the Barreau du Québec and the Association of Defense Lawyers to come to testify.
“It is our responsibility as elected officials to hear from all the parties who may have been involved so that they can explain themselves. […] To this obscurity that puts us completely upside down, we must oppose transparency, ”says the member of the Parti Québécois.
The Press recently revealed that a judgment of the Court of Appeal denounced the holding of a criminal trial of which there remains no trace. In this case, dubbed by the province’s highest court as “File X”, lawyers for a police informant allegedly agreed with Crown prosecutors to hold a secret trial at first instance, in contravention of the rules of the justice system, so that the life of the accused is not threatened.
To date, nothing is known about this case, while nothing has been revealed on the nature of the charges that were brought. “The Court is of the opinion that if trials must protect certain information disclosed therein, a procedure as secret as the present one is absolutely contrary to modern criminal law and respectful of the constitutional rights not only of the accused, but also of the media, as well as inconsistent with the values of a liberal democracy,” the Court of Appeal said in its judgment.
Quebec asked for verifications
Questioned on the subject in a scrum in parliament and then during question period, the Minister of Justice, Simon Jolin-Barrette, reiterated that he asked “to carry out checks to [se] provide adequate information on the file”.
“I want to reiterate that justice must be done publicly. There may be exceptional circumstances that measures must be taken to ensure that in a case like this the identity of a police informant is protected, but I was very surprised by this process and I I’m still waiting for some checks. At the appropriate time, I will be able to inform you adequately if there are measures to be taken, ”he added.
At the Blue Room, liberal justice critic Gaétan Barrette said he felt “in South America in the 1970s, in Guantanamo [et d’autres] affairs of the same” upon learning of the holding of a secret trial in Quebec. Véronique Hivon believes that it is “alarming that we do not even know if other instances like this have occurred in Quebec”.
“Basically, you have to put transparency into something that is completely obscure and reminds us of the practices of totalitarian, undemocratic or medieval states. I miss the qualifiers, ”she says