Saturday: Justice for Fredy!

NO MORE Impunity, Biased Inquiries and Police Killings!
A festive gathering and dice tournament

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SATURDAY, December 13, 2008
2PM
Parc Henri-Bourassa
corner of Rolland and Pascal
in Montreal-Nord
Food served on-site
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Truth and Justice for Fredy Villaneuva!

[By public transit:
From Métro H-Bourassa (orange line) :
- Autobus 69 et 49 : Get off at the corner of Maurice-Duplessis at Rolland (25 mins) then walk about two minutes, north, to the Maison de la Culture
- Autobus 48 et 89 : Get off at the corner of Léger and Rolland (25 mins) then walk about five minutes south to Parc Henri_Bourassa (corner Rolland/Pascal)

From Métro Cadillac (green line):
Autobus 32 Nord : Get off at the corner of Maurice Duplessis et Lacordaire (35 mins), then walk 10 minutes east to Rolland, then walk north to behind École Henri-Bourassa.]


Background:

The Coalition against Police Repression and Abuse condemns the exoneration of Jean-Loup Lapointe, the Montreal police officer who killed 18 year-old Fredy Villaneuva on August 9, 2008 in Montreal-Nord. The clearing of officer Lapointe is just the most recent example that polcie impunity is alive and well in Quebec. During a press conference Louis Dionne, the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions, announced that no charges will be laid against officer Lapointe and his partner Stephanie Pilotte since they hadn't committed any "criminal infractions". We continue to demand justice for Fredy and that officer Lapointe be charged for shooting four bullets at unarmed youth playing a game of dice in Henri-Bourassa Park, leaving one person dead and two others wounded.

The results of the SQ inquiry are insulting but not surprising since it had no credibility from the beginning. When the police investigate other police the results are always the same: a police inquiry confirms the police version of events and the prosecutors just clear the officers. Of the 43 people killed by the Montreal police since 1987, there are only 4 cases where the officers were charged: 2 officers were acquitted, and in one case an officer was found guilty and penalized with community service; in the Barnabé Affair, the officers were found guilty, but they were then re-integrated into the police force. Furthermore, Francois Briere, the Crown prosecutor who told the media the police version of the murder of Fredy at the press conference, is the same person who had decided not to press charges against officers Thibert and Bordeleau who had killed Quilem Registre by discharging six electric shocks from a taser gun in October 2007 in St. Michel! The deck was stacked right from the very beginning.

Jacques Dupuis, the Minister of Public Security and Justice then announced a public inquiry that is supposed to allow us to learn more about the death of Fredy, but it is nothing more than a tiny consolation in the denial of justice and constitutes the refusal to press charges against cops who kill. We are glad to hear that the Villanueva family will file a civil suit against the City of Montreal and officer Lapointe, it being one of the only legal avenues in which to obtain justice.

Finally, we would like to underline that the announcement was made the same day as a vigil to support the Bennis family whose son Anas was shot and killed 3 years ago by Yannick Bernier in Côte-des-Neiges. However, in this fatal incident as in all of the other cases of police killings where there is no rioting or windows being smashed, Minister Dupuis never ordered a public inquiry to proceed. The Bennis family is currently in a battle with the Montreal Police Brotherhood who would like to prevent a public inquiry, the same way they did in the Case of Michel Berniquez, killed in 2003 by the police in Montreal-North.

These are a few of the reasons for which we will have another demonstration in Montreal-North, on Saturday, December 13, 2008 at 2PM in Henri-Bourassa Park (corner of Pascal and Rolland).

Truth and Justice for Fredy Villaneuva and his loved ones!
Lapointe is Guilty!