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From: "paul@paulfromm.com" <paul@paulfromm.com>
Subject: Setback for Censorship: B.C. Judge Refuses to Gag Dissident Arthur
Topham Before "Hate" Trial
Reply-To: paul@paulfromm.com

  
Setback for Censorship: B.C. Judge Refuses to Gag Dissident Arthur Topham
Before "Hate" Trial
Radical Press Legal Update #8

January 4, 2012

http://www.radicalpress.com/?p=1894


Dear Supporters of Freedom of Speech,
 
January 3, 2013 was a good day in B.C. and across the nation for those who
have taken up metaphorical arms in defence of Canada's fundamental right to
freedom of speech on the Internet.
 
Here in B.C. and out in Ontario those battling against the forces of media
censorship and repression were, in both cases, successful in their efforts and
thus, for once, I have only positive news to report.

During the last court appearance in December presiding Judge Church, after
hearing arguments from both the Crown and Defence regarding the Crown's rather
strident and persistent effort to reimpose the original bail conditions that
were placed on me by Cst. Terry Wilson of the BC HATE CRIME TEAM back on May
16, 2012, reserved her judgement on the issue until January 3, 2013.
 
My lawyer Doug Christie attended by telephone from Victoria, B.C. and my wife
and I were in the Quesnel Court room at 1:30 p.m. to hear Judge Church's
decision.
 
The Judge first gave an overview of the Crown's arguments and those of Defence
lawyer Mr. Christie before presenting her own position on the issue. According
to Judge Church the Crown's basic argument was that while I had legally
resumed publishing on RadicalPress.com on November 2, 2012 I was still
publishing material that the Crown felt was of the same calibre as that
originally complained of by Harry Abrams and Richard Warman. To back up
Crown's argument Crown counsel Jennifer Johnston had submitted to Judge Church
on December 19, 2012 a couple of screen shots taken from the radicalpress.com
website that had supposed controversial headings which CC Johnston felt were
significant enough that they warranted reinstating the original draconian
restrictions that Cst Terry Wilson had unilaterally saddled me with on the day
of my arrest in May.
 
Having considered these apparently pithy examples of willful promotion of
hatred against �people of the Jewish religion or ethnic group" Judge Church
went on to say that while the screen shots may have (as Crown was alleging),
indicated an "undertone" of hatred toward those of the Jewish faith, Crown had
not gone so far as to state that the captured text was in fact hateful.
Furthermore, Crown had not disclosed to Judge Church any additional
corroborating information pertaining to the screen shots in question which
Crown was alleging were displaying such sentiments and so, according to the
Judge, she had no way of determining whether or not the screen shots or the
accompanying articles were, in fact, contravening sec. 319(2) of the CC of
Canada.
 
Judge Church then went on to review Defence council Doug Christie's arguments
which basically stated Crown was attempting to pre-judge the published
materials before a trial was held to determine whether or not they were in
truth a contravention of sec. 319(2). It was also established that I am, in
fact, a publisher and that under Canada's constitution I have the right to
publish articles deemed to be of interest to the general public and until such
time that said articles are proven in a court of law to have contravened
Canada's hate crime legislation that my right to publish should not be
pre-emptively prohibited simply because of allegations of wrong doing by those
who feel particular materials are wilfully promoting hatred toward an ethnic
minority. Throughout the course of her comments the Judge referred to the
cases cited by both Crown and Defence during the previous hearing on December
19, 2012.
 
Another issue that had come up on December 19, 2012 was that of Disclosure.
The Crown had then argued that they were withholding disclosure from my
attorney because of a breach of protocol that had occurred back in the summer
when a confidential document released to Doug Christie was later found to have
been posted on a third party website (FreeDominion.ca). The Judge went on to
describe the event which had to do with what is called a "Warned Statement"
which was a digitally recorded conversation between myself and the arresting
officer Cst Terry Wilson on the day of my arrest. The Crown alleged that the
breach (committed by me due to ignorance of the nature of the document) posed
a serious threat to the safety of the two complainants in the case Warman and
Abrams and for that reason Crown had filed a further application demanding
that my lawyer not provide me with any further disclosure because I might
intentionally publish it or give it to someone else who might publish it and
in the process endanger the complainants. CC Johnston had cited the case of
the Basi-Virk Trial involving the BC Rail/BC Liberal government scandal as
reasoning for her allegations.
 
The Judge then went on to state that the case law cited by Crown in fact dealt
with examples where secondary parties who were testifying may have been at
risk but that in my case it was information which I personally had given to
Cst. Terry Wilson and was, as my lawyer had stated, not of the same nature and
certainly did not pose any direct threat to either of the two individuals who
had complained to the RCMP. As such the Judge did not feel that the Crown's
argument that Mr. Christie be restricted in sharing disclosure with me was
valid.
 
Judge Church also considered Doug Christie's counter argument that it would be
an unreasonable and onerous position to be placed in were he not allowed to
share the information in any disclosure with his client unless I was under his
direct supervision given the fact that he was in Victoria and I was 700 km
away in Quesnel. Mr. Christie had indicated on December 19, 2012 that he and
his client would be more than willing to sign an undertaking prohibiting me
from disclosing any further confidential information in order to insure that
no such breach occurred a second time. The Judge was able to see the logic of
Mr. Christie's arguments while at the same time dismissing Crown's position
that the breach in question could have endangered the two complainants and
went on to say that while she would not be imposing the two original
conditions that prohibited me from publishing on radicalpress.com or writing
articles for publication wherever I so chose she would be issuing an order
that would make it illegal for me republish any further disclosure. At this
point she also stating she would not impose upon Mr. Christie the condition
that he be in attendance whenever disclosing confidential documents to me.
 
Having read out her decision regarding the matters at hand the Judge
reinstated the new bail conditions and asked me if I understood them. I
acknowledged that I did. As such here are the new bail conditions which I am
now to legally abide by:
 
CONDITION ONE: You shall keep the peace and be of good behaviour.
 
CONDITION TWO: You shall have no contact or communication, directly or
indirectly, with Richard Warman or Harry Abrams except as follows: (a) while
in attendance at court; (b) through legal counsel.
 
CONDITION THREE: You shall not possess any weapon as defined in Section 2 of
the criminal Code except for purposes directly related to your employment.
 
CONDITION FOUR: You shall not distribute, circulate or share all or any part
of the Crown disclosure material with any person or organization.
 
CONDITION FIVE: You shall not publish or post all or any part of the Crown
disclosure material on any internet site that can be read by the general
public.
 
Having listened to the conditions of the new undertaking and given my consent
to obey them the Judge then concluded the hearing. My wife and I then went for
coffee and returned later to the Court Registry office where the undertaking
was waiting for my signature. After signing it and obtaining a copy we left
the building.
 
Included in the new undertaking was a notice stating that I would appear in
court on April 2, 2013 at 1:30 pm PT in Quesnel for the preliminary hearing.
 
For some unknown reason Crown counsel Jennifer Johnston was absent from the
court room and another assistant Crown counsel was sitting in for her.
 
So by all indications it looks like I will finally have some temporary respite
from all the legal machinations that have been occurring over the past three
months and I can focus on raising funds and adding further information to
radicalpress.com that will assist others in understanding both the importance
of this case and why it is that Canadians must sit up and pay much more
attention to what these foreign lobbyists are doing to wreck our inherent
right to freedom of expression and censor any and debate that focuses on the
criminal and racist actions of the state of Israel and its dangerous and
supremacist ideology known as Zionism.
 
 
Sincerely


Arthur Topham
Publisher & Editor
The Radical Press
"Digging to the root of the issues since 1998"
------------------------------------------------------------

NOTE: The struggle to retain our inherent right to freedom of speech doesn't
come without costs both financially and otherwise. Out of necessity, I am
forced to ask for financial assistance in this ongoing battle with the foreign
interest censors who are determined to stop all freedom of expression in
Canada. Due to the fact that the Crown is refusing to give the required
disclosure to my lawyer I am not able to apply for legal aid. This leaves me
in the unenviable position of having to rely solely upon donations to pay for
my legal expenses.
As of January 3, 2013 there are additional costs to those already incurred
that now stand at $5,222.79 still owing on Mr. Christie's account. Given my
minimal monthly pension of approximately $1400.00 out of which I must pay my
mortgage and utilities and insurance on home and vehicles (this doesn't cover
additional costs for fuel and food) which come to approximately $1200.00 one
can see that it's virtually impossible for me to cover these expenses without
further assistance from supporters.
As such I would once again implore readers to give serious consideration to
helping me out by either sending a donation via PayPal using either a PayPal
account or a credit card or else sending a cheque or Money Order or cash to me
via snail mail at the following postal address. Cash of course also works.
Please don't make the cheque out to "RadicalPress" as that account is no
longer available to me.
Arthur Topham
4633 Barkerville Highway
Quesnel, B.C.
Canada
V2J 6T8
To access my PayPal button please go to either the Home Page at
http://www.radicalpress.com or my blog http://www.quesnelcariboosentinel.com
The PayPal button is up on the right hand corner of the Home Page on either
site. Feel free to click on it.
Sincerely,
Arthur Topham
Pub/Ed

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