(Quebec) Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette is asking the Quebec Court of Appeal to identify the judge and lawyers who were involved in the secret trial of a police informant.
Posted at 4:58 p.m.
In a press release on Wednesday, Mr. Jolin-Barrette explained that he had instructed the prosecutors of the Ministry of Justice to address themselves to the highest court in Quebec and to present a request “aiming for certain information currently redacted can be made public, including the identity of the judge concerned, the lawyers involved as well as the orders rendered in this case”.
As Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Quebec, I remain deeply concerned by the circumstances that are reported. In this regard, I spoke with the management of the Court of Québec and the Superior Court. We share the same concerns about the circumstances surrounding this file as well as about the importance of the principle of the publicity of legal proceedings.
Excerpt from Simon Jolin-Barrette’s press release
“Although I do not have access to the information in this file due to the orders issued by the Court of Appeal, I am however informed that the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions did not take part in the file”, he said. -he adds.
A trial led by the federal crown
The Press revealed earlier Wednesday that the secret trial held in Quebec would be linked to a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) file and that it was conducted by federal crown prosecutors. The accused was an RCMP informant. Police and prosecutors reportedly set up this secret trial to protect an ongoing investigation.
This story, which has been in the headlines for several days, was revealed on Friday by The Press who revealed how the Court of Appeal had discovered the existence of a secret criminal trial held in a context deemed “incompatible with the values of a liberal democracy”. No file number was opened, the charges were kept confidential, as was the sentence and the name of the judge. The judgment was not archived at the registry, and witnesses were questioned outside the courthouse.
Liberal MP Gaétan Barrette on Wednesday asked Minister Jolin-Barrette to challenge the Judicial Council to indicate under what criteria it is acceptable in a democratic society to hold a secret trial. PQ MP Véronique Hivon for her part asked parliamentarians to seize a mandate of initiative to get to the bottom of this story which she described as a “nuclear bomb” on the legal community.
With Vincent Larouche and Daniel Renaud, The Press