Article by Rebel News staff

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Today is the trial itself. Kirk Loco is in Bray District Court, south of Dublin. Rebel News boss Ezra Levant is covering it as it happens - live-tweeting from inside and filming outside. Follow along for updates below or directly on X.

Kirk has refused to plead guilty. His barrister, Laoise de Brún, and solicitor, Padraig Langsch, will fight the charge in open court. A conviction could mean prison, and would make Section 12A the template for prosecuting speech in Ireland.

Ezra Levant is in Ireland this week to cover two trials that the Irish media won't. First is a case involving a man named Kirk Loco.

Two years ago, a warning circulated in an Irish community group: a migrant man had allegedly exposed himself on a public bus in front of a 14-year-old girl. The driver stopped the bus. There were witnesses. There was CCTV.

Kirk Loco, an ordinary Irishman and a critic of mass immigration, reposted the warning so other parents would know.

The man on the bus was not charged. Kirk was.

Gardaí charged him under Section 12A of the Criminal Justice Act, 1976, a so-called “fake news” law passed during the Troubles to combat terrorist propaganda. In nearly 50 years it had never been used against anyone. Kirk is the first person in Irish history to be prosecuted under it.

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Since then he has been brought back to the courthouse in Bray, south of Dublin, close to 10 times for a single retweet. In May, the judge lifted a bail condition that had banned him from attending any protest anywhere in Ireland, but refused to order police to hand over the bus CCTV or the names of the witnesses who could clear him.

“I just can't believe that I'm eight court appearances in for a retweet,” Kirk said at the time. There have been more since.