Arthur Topham “Hate” Trial Opens With a Whimper
Quesnel, BC., January 22, 2014. The long awaited preliminary hearing into “hate” charges against dissident and political prisoner Arthur Topham for postings on his website Radicalpress.com opened here this morning. Mr. Topham reports, with some disappointment, that only about an hour and a half’s worth of testimony was heard.
The shambolic hearing was repeatedly interrupted with remands and other court business. There is only one courtroom and one judge in this small town in the British Columbia interior. One of the two Crowns or prosecuting lawyers was ill.
Photo: Arthur Topham “Hate” Trial Opens With a Whimper Quesnel, BC., January 22, 2014. The long awaited preliminary hearing into “hate” charges against dissident and political prisoner Arthur Topham for postings on his website Radicalpress.com opened here this morning. Mr. Topham reports, with some disappointment, that only about an hour and a half’s worth of testimony was heard. The shambolic hearing was repeatedly interrupted with remands and other court business. There is only one courtroom and one judge in this small town in the British Columbia interior. One of the two Crowns or prosecuting lawyers was ill. The Crown’s case under Canada’s notorious “hate law” (Sec. 319 of the Criminal Code) opened with the testimony of the investigating officer Det. Terry Wilson of the British Columbia “hate squad.” Most of the evidence presented merely established that Mr. Topham owned the Radicalpress.com website and that he had posted material there, none of which he denies. After Mr. Topham’s arrest, Det. Wilson contacted Mr. Topham’s ISP to pressure it to drop his Radicalpress.com website, saying he had been charged with “hate”. The initial charges did not indicate what posts out of many on this active website might constitute “hate”. The ISP directed Mr. Topham to remove the offending passages, but he couldn’t, not knowing what they were. So, the ISP pulled the plug on the site. In Canada, as in the U.S., a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty. However, Det. Terry Wilson began to inflict punishment even before a trial. The charges were instigated by complaints from Harry Abrams of the League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith and chronic complaint filer Richard Warman of Ottawa. The hearing, slated to last five days, continues tomorrow.
The Crown’s case under Canada’s notorious “hate law” (Sec. 319 of the Criminal Code) opened with the testimony of the investigating officer Det. Terry Wilson of the British Columbia “hate squad.” Most of the evidence presented merely established that Mr. Topham owned the Radicalpress.com website and that he had posted material there, none of which he denies.
After Mr. Topham’s arrest, Det. Wilson contacted Mr. Topham’s ISP to pressure it to drop his Radicalpress.com website, saying he had been charged with “hate”. The initial charges did not indicate what posts out of many on this active website might constitute “hate”. The ISP directed Mr. Topham to remove the offending passages, but he couldn’t, not knowing what they were. So, the ISP pulled the plug on the site.
In Canada, as in the U.S., a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty. However, Det. Terry Wilson began to inflict punishment even before a trial.
The charges were instigated by complaints from Harry Abrams of the League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith and chronic complaint filer Richard Warman of Ottawa.
The hearing, slated to last five days, continues tomorrow.