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Like Freedom Convoy organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, who were charged with mischief over $5,000 and await legal proceedings, alleged organizers of the Coutts Blockade resume pre-trial hearings this week on the same same charges.

The Coutts Blockade was a 24-7, 18-day peaceful protest near Alberta’s largest international border crossing to the U.S., occurring concurrently with the Freedom Convoy movement.

Disrupting millions of dollars in trade, catalyzing the lifting of provincial COVID restrictions, and proving unmovable to the RCMP, the Coutts Blockade was the most effective protest Alberta had ever seen.

On September 16, 2022, RCMP issued a formal statement, notifying the public that three men, Alex Van Herk, Marco Van Huigenbos, and George Janzen, would be charged with mischief over $5,000, for being alleged “key participants” of the blockade.

I’m in Lethbridge with Robert Kraychik & Sydney Fizzard to cover the hearings of the Coutts Three. Prosecutors say they were the leaders of the trucker border blockade two years ago. To help crowdfund our journalism and the lawyers for the men, go to https://t.co/nPrWX0Pulp. pic.twitter.com/2M7cT8AQDl

— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) February 26, 2024

Many argue the trials and charges stemming from this national Freedom Convoy movement are political in nature. Timely access to justice, full timely and wholesome disclosure, and innocent until proven guilty; all hard to find in the cases of many charged in Coutts.

Today, February 26, 2024, the three men resume pre-trial hearings at the Lethbridge courthouse, with trial by jury expected later this year.

To see our coverage of these proceedings go to CouttsThree.com. To donate to the legal defence of these three men who are being helped by The Democracy Fund, go to CouttsThree.com.

Follow along below for live updates from Ezra Levant:

Durran wraps up. The court is about to break for lunch. The judge asks the lawyers for their thoughts on what to do with the afternoon session.

— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) February 26, 2024

The prosecution is done; Ryan Durran, one of the defence lawyers is on his feet in response -- he says he'll be 20 minutes. Here's his biographical info: https://t.co/N9dICeEOre

— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) February 26, 2024

I'm really enjoying the banter between defence lawyer Duran and the judge. I think Durran is a "fit" with the judge's style of thinking, as a former professor.

I wish I could describe for you the nature of the legal dispute, but alas the publication ban forbids it for now.

— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) February 26, 2024

Sorry to be so vague -- I regret that I cannot tell you the two "sides" of this debate, as that would touch on the rules of the jury, which is the very thing that the publication ban is designed to stop. They don't want jurors to hear about this debate before they are empaneled.

— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) February 26, 2024

Before the break, defence lawyers were engaging with the judge on the rules that apply to juries. Now the prosecutors are doing the same. That mainly takes the form of the lawyers reading through case law to support their positions. The judge occasionally asks questions.

— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) February 26, 2024

Everyone's back in the courtroom -- just waiting on the judge now.

— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) February 26, 2024

Minor detail: one of the prosecutors is Steven Johnston, and one of the defence lawyers is Michael Johnston. So the judge is calling them each by their full names to try to keep the court report clear.

— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) February 26, 2024

So I am once again limited as to what I can tweet (and what I can report outside of court on video). I have chatted with the defence lawyers and I think we'll be able to get one or both of them on camera during the breaks. If so, they will carefully talk about what they can.

— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) February 26, 2024

The judge cautioned the gallery against publishing any details of the hearings. He explained the reason: so the men would have the fairest trial possible. It's true; publication bans are, in part, an attempt to stop jurors from hearing gossip or half-truths outside the trial.

— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) February 26, 2024

So, when it comes about the rules that will apply to the jury, the debates about those rules are to be kept private until they are finalized. Same thing with a publication ban touching on information police used to obtain a search warrant -- those facts haven't been tested yet.

— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) February 26, 2024

I'm in the court. The three defendants are here -- Marco Van Huigenbos, Alex Van Herk and George Janzen. They are the so-called Coutts Three.

There are three prosecutors here, including Steven Johnston, who has been the prosecutor in most lockdown cases in Alberta.

— Ezra Levant 🍁🚛 (@ezralevant) February 26, 2024