Two anti-mask leaders are refused entry to the courthouse

Anti-vaccine activist François Amalega Bitondo, one of the leaders of the Quebec movement opposing sanitary measures, refused to enter the Montreal courthouse to defend his case on Friday because he does not accept to wear the mask, compulsory in the corridors and the courtrooms.

Isabelle Ducas
The Press

As a result, the 43-year-old was twice sentenced, by default, to two $1,000 fines, plus $500 costs, for breaking curfew in January 2021. This is not about his first convictions.

“I wanted to enter this morning, but the constable told me that it was impossible without a mask and that I had to wait outside”, explained Mr. Amalega Bitondo, met in front of the courthouse. “I was prevented from going to defend my rights. »

He reiterated his opposition to sanitary measures, saying that the mask was useless and comparing the government of François Legault to Hitler’s regime.

In two separate hearings, one in the morning and another in the afternoon, officers from the Montreal City Police Department came to explain to the court that François Amalega Bitondo was leading protests against the curfew in January 2021, on the Plateau Mont-Royal, when they gave him tickets for non-compliance with sanitary measures.

During one of these arrests, the anti-mask leader initially refused to identify himself and lay down on the ground, uncooperative with the police.

Justice of the Peace Pierre-David Cyr noted, before sentencing, that Mr. Amalega Bitondo could have made arrangements to appear by videoconference, since all courtrooms are now equipped with this equipment.

François Amalega Bitondo, who has already accumulated more than $40,000 in fines for non-compliance with sanitary measures, said in an interview that he had no intention of paying these fines, but that he would be ready to doing community service, such as volunteering at schools where he could “teach kids how to get out of the current situation the government is putting them in.”

A visor rather than a mask

Another anti-mask leader, Mario Roy, was also scheduled to appear in court on Friday, but turned back when courthouse security staff asked him to put on a face covering. Mr. Roy wore only a transparent plastic visor.

“I am denied the constitutional right to appear in court with a visor,” denounced Mario Roy, who appeared by videoconference, while he was in his car with his cell phone. “I am not able to breathe with a mask. »

Mario Roy, who claims that the Quebec justice system participates in a “child abduction network”, must defend himself from charges of criminal harassment against a person associated with the justice system. He will be entitled to a trial of several weeks before a jury this spring.

He will face another trial, along with five other activists from the group Les Farfadaas, for the blocking of the Louis-Hippolyte-La Fontaine tunnel in March 2021.