Final hearing before heading to Florida for Rebel reporter over alleged COVID-19 violations

Yanky Pollak is our reporter who used to be based in Montreal. During the Covid-19 crisis, Yanky covered multiple events related to the strict health measures that were put in place.

One of the restrictions imposed by the Quebec government was the installation of a curfew. From January 9, 2021 to May 28, 2021, a curfew was put in place for everyone in the province of Quebec. After 8pm, only people with exemption papers were allowed to be outside their residences. 

So the police performed roadside checks to intercept people who were on the road or just outside. Mr. Pollak was doing his job as a journalist to report to the world what was really happening in the streets after 8 o'clock in the evening.

I've been stopped by Montreal police more than 15 times during the curfew and given thousands of dollars in fines, even though I have a media exemption. Last night @SPVM called me over and asked if I was "media juif" -- Jew media. Outrageous.https://t.co/WHFZdtRHRp pic.twitter.com/FzbywMHRxX

— Yanky (@Yanky_Pollak) March 21, 2021

Despite his exemption paper and a written letter from the Montreal police company SPVM, Mr. Pollak received a multitude of tickets, either for curfew violations or for any other offence that the police officers could impose on him.

Here are some tickets @Yanky_Pollak is fighting today. https://t.co/KFNB96wxuP

— Alexandra Lavoie (@ThevoiceAlexa) January 16, 2023

This week, Yanky Pollak travelled from Florida to Montreal to fight several dozen tickets. Despite the distance travelled, the court system has nevertheless extended the date of its hearings to a later date.

In this report, this is the last hearing for 4 tickets issued during curfew. The police officer involved in 3 out of the 4 tickets arrived late by more than 2.5 hours, stating that he simply forgot about this appointment.

Update :

The Police Officer choose to give is testimony in French.

He finally arrived around 12pm when the trial was scheduled for 9:30am.

— Alexandra Lavoie (@ThevoiceAlexa) January 16, 2023

Due to this incident, the court ran out of time to pass the case of Mr. Pollak, forcing them to postpone the hearing to another date.

UPDATE:

It seems that that the court case will be postponed because of lack of time.

The cross examination of the police officer took longer than expected.

— Alexandra Lavoie (@ThevoiceAlexa) January 16, 2023

This is what happened that day.