The trial for three alleged organizers of the 2022 Coutts border blockade continues today in Lethbridge, Alberta. Recent proceedings have focused on the testimony of Mark Wielgosz, a veteran RCMP officer who acted as a liaison between police and the protesters.

The three men — Alex Van Herk, Marco Van Huigenbos, and George Janzen — are each being charged with mischief over $5000 and facing up to 10 years in prison for allegedly being leaders of the protest.

The Coutts blockade was an 18-day peaceful demonstration against government-imposed COVID-19 restrictions held at the border of Coutts, Alberta and Sweet Grass, Montana in early 2022.

Halting millions of dollars in trade and occurring concurrently with the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa, the protest proved to be one of the most impactful Canada has seen in decades.

Rebel News reporter Robert Kraychik is on the ground at the Lethbridge courthouse, providing independent reporting on the trial of the Coutts Three.

Follow along below for live updates from the trial:

Tulloch previously acknowledged that he had not observed any evidence that either Marco Van Huigenbos or George Janzen directed any closure/blockade of the Coutts-Sweetgrass border crossing, but he had observed Van Huigenbos and Janzen helping persuade protesters to open lanes.

— Robert Kraychik (@rkraychik) April 10, 2024

"[Marco Van Huigenbos and George Janzen] didn't close the road, they opened it," Alan Honner, one of George Janzen's defense lawyers, says while cross-examining RCMP officer Greg Tulloch, who worked as a police liaison with the Coutts protesters. https://t.co/KGVQVALjFW

— Robert Kraychik (@rkraychik) April 10, 2024

RCMP officer Greg Tulloch testified that @ArturPawlowski1 mere presence at the Coutts protest was disruptive, yet the pastor was subsequently charged with incitement based on allegations that his statements were unlawful. Pawlowski, who's in the courtroom, will talk to me later.

— Robert Kraychik (@rkraychik) April 10, 2024

I mention this because both RCMP officers Mark Wielgosz and Greg Tulloch, understandably, cannot recall every detail they are asked about by either the Crown or defense teams, and their notes often lack such details, which is completely understandable. https://t.co/eXMrz5gTIP

— Robert Kraychik (@rkraychik) April 10, 2024

The lack of body cam evidence from the RCMP witnesses who worked at the Coutts protest is stunning. Cops cannot record all pertinent details via simple note-taking, even when dictating notes. How can they NOT be using these basic tools in 2022? https://t.co/KGVQVALjFW

— Robert Kraychik (@rkraychik) April 10, 2024

Tulloch acknowledges that varying factions composed the Coutts protest when asked to review his notes regarding this fact by Johnston. This relates to a central Crown claim: that the defendants were the Coutts demonstration's leadership with control/influence over the protesters.

— Robert Kraychik (@rkraychik) April 10, 2024

RCMP officer Greg Tulloch agrees with a characterization of the Coutts demonstration as "a political protest" and "non-violent petition [to the] government for a redress of ... grievances" offered by Michael Johnston, Alex Van Herk's lawyer. https://t.co/mIhJKvGq4E

— Robert Kraychik (@rkraychik) April 10, 2024

"We've communicated, now, that this border is 100-percent shut," said Marco Van Huigenbos in a Rebel News video interview presumably recorded in Coutts on February 10, 2022. He added that commercial trucks stuck in the blockade were given access to exit. https://t.co/KGVQVALjFW

— Robert Kraychik (@rkraychik) April 10, 2024

RCMP officer Greg Tulloch testifies that he had concerns that excavators traveling to the Coutts protest "may be used to dig up the road", and that there was "no legitimate purpose " for such equipment to head to the border crossing. https://t.co/KGVQVALjFW

— Robert Kraychik (@rkraychik) April 10, 2024

Some Coutts demonstrators told me in recent days/weeks that they believed the RCMP intended to inflict sufficient discomfort (cold, hunger) upon the them by blocking travel to the demonstration in order to force an end to the protest. https://t.co/KGVQVALjFW

— Robert Kraychik (@rkraychik) April 10, 2024

Tulloch adds that Van Huigenbos's request for the RCMP to lift its blockade of southbound traffic at Milk River towards Coutts - to allow for delivery of food, fuel, and other essentials/consumables - "certainly made sense from his perspective". https://t.co/mIhJKvGq4E

— Robert Kraychik (@rkraychik) April 10, 2024

"I understand what he was saying," RCMP officer Greg Tulloch testifies in response to 2022 video of @marco_huigenbos calling for unrestricted access to Coutts from Milk River during the protest to allow for provision of essentials like food and fuel. https://t.co/KGVQVALjFW

— Robert Kraychik (@rkraychik) April 10, 2024

RCMP officer Greg Tulloch testifies about the police blockade of Milk River, preventing motorists from traveling south on the AB-4 highway towards the Coutts-Sweetgrass border crossing unless persuaded that the drivers weren't attempting to join the 2022 Coutts protest.

— Robert Kraychik (@rkraychik) April 10, 2024

Both @jkenney and @JustinTrudeau refused to negotiate with the Coutts or Freedom Convoy protesters regarding governmental "vaccine mandates" for truckers driving across the Canada-U.S. border. They were obstinate in maintaining this "public health" edict. https://t.co/KGVQVALjFW

— Robert Kraychik (@rkraychik) April 10, 2024

Some courtroom observers laughed when a frame of @jkenney from 2022 was shown and frozen (as part of a transition from longer Rebel News segment) in which the former premier was promoting the mRNA "vaccines" and "boosters" as a wise choice for Albertans. https://t.co/mIhJKvGq4E

— Robert Kraychik (@rkraychik) April 10, 2024

There isn't any RCMP video in this trial, despite at least four officers operating as liaisons at the Coutts protest; no body cam footage or audio was captured. Essentially all videos introduced as evidence/exhibits in this trial have been branded with the Rebel News watermark.

— Robert Kraychik (@rkraychik) April 10, 2024

Coutts Three trial in Lethbridge, AB, about to resume. Crown witness and RCMP officer Greg Tulloch will continue his testimony today, and if the prosecution ends its questioning, the defense teams' cross-examinations will begin. https://t.co/KGVQVALjFW

— Robert Kraychik (@rkraychik) April 10, 2024