Brussels:
Steve Finney, the unlawfully jailed Canadian leader of the International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State (ITCCS), was told yesterday by a Kitchener, Ontario court judge that he won’t be released on bail unless he disassociates himself from the Tribunal.
Ontario Court of Justice magistrate Michael Cuthbertson informed Finney through Duty Counsel Dave Woodbeck that no-one associated with the ITCCS would be allowed to post bail for him, and neither should Finney himself remain active with the ITCCS if he wished to “avoid another thirty days in jail”.
Steve Finney still faces no charges after his sudden arrest Sunday morning, the day after he spoke on international radio about his work to expose child trafficking in Kitchener involving government and police officials. Finney has been severely beaten by Kitchener police, assaulted and denied any contact or communication with anyone while in prison.
In response to such flagrant political persecution, the ITCCS and its United Nations affiliates have dispatched two accredited human rights observers to Kitchener to attend the Wednesday, October 2 bail hearing of Steve Finney.
“We were shocked to learn that one of the conditions for Mr. Finney’s release on bail is that he disaffiliate himself from any involvement in our Tribunal” said ITCCS legal advisor George Dufort today in Brussels.
“Such a bail condition is certainly not lawful and violates all of the accepted norms of due process. We are appalled that such overt political persecution can go on within Canadian courts. If this is indeed the case, we will be pressing for sanctions and legal action against the government of Ontario and its Attorney General, John Gerretsen; and we will be urging Amnesty International and others to adopt Steve Finney as a Prisoner of Conscience and a recognized political prisoner in Canada.”
Supporters of Steve Finney, including his own wife Amy Smart, were physically barred from the courtroom in which Finney appeared yesterday. If he is denied bail, he will remain unlawfully incarcerated at Maplehurst prison in Milton, Ontario for at least thirty more days.
Demand Steve Finney’s immediate release and the cessation of his persecution, by calling the numbers below (in Canada, international code 1).
John Gerretsen, Attorney General for Ontario: jgerretsen.mpp@liberal.ola.org
Toll free in Canada: 1-800-518-7901 or 613-547-2385
Fax: 416-326-4016
Kitchener-Waterloo Member of Parliament Peter Braid ph: 519-746-1573
Waterloo Regional Criminal Court: phone: 519-741-3200
Maplehurst Prison, Milton, Ontario: 905-878-8141
Issued by ITCCS Central Office, Brussels
2 October, 2013
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