Timothy Appleby

Almost three years after the tumultuous G20 summit, scrutiny of yet another skirmish gets an airing in court Tuesday. This time the catalyst is a bandana.

At issue in the Divisional Court hearing at Toronto’s Osgoode Hall will be the way a G20 –related complaint was handled by the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, the watchdog that probes complaints against Ontario police.

In this instance, it’s alleged the OIPRD fell short by failing to properly examine the circumstances that gave rise to the complaint, in particular the source of the orders that resulted in the complainant being arrested, locked up for more than 24 hours and released without charge.

Timothy Appleby

That would be the perspective of Toronto police as two American citizens sought for their roles in the G20 summit riots three years ago appeared in court Wednesday morning after being extradited to Canada and flown to Toronto the night before.

The two latest suspects to be reeled in are Kevin Chianella, 20, of Queens, New York, who faces a total of 53 charges, including arson; and Richard Dean Morano of Lackawaxen, Penn., 22, wanted on 14 criminal charges that include assaulting police.

On Thursday, February 14th, at 6 o’clock in the morning, federal marshals arrested an American activist, Joel Bitar, in his New York, NY home on a provisional arrest warrant issued by the US Attorney’s office, acting on a foreign extradition request from Canadian authorities. The complaint against Joel cites 26 counts, almost all relating to property damage that occurred during the G20 summit protests in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in June 2010. After a temporary delay in court proceedings—due to an outbreak of lice in the federal prison where Joel and many others have the misfortune of being held, the weekend, and a national holiday on Monday—Joel went before Magistrate Judge, Gabriel W. Gorenstein, on Tuesday, February 19th, to determine whether he would be granted bail as he awaits his extradition hearing in the United States. During the proceedings, a general timeline of the actions of the Canadian and US authorities was established.

Joel was arrested in Toronto, along with a little over 1,100 other people, during the G20 protests on June 26 and 27th 2010, in what is thought to be the largest mass arrest in Canada’s history. Joel was processed and released without any charges. In December 2010, lead G20 investigator, Det. Sgt. Gary Giroux, announced to various Canadian news agencies that Canada was seeking the extradition of three Americans for damages amounting to $500,000. Soon after, Joel retained the services of an attorney, Martin Stolar, who contacted Giroux. According to Stolar’s testimony on Tuesday, Giroux confirmed that Joel was a suspect and they were investigating him on charges relating to property destruction.

As of today, January 17th 2012 Alex Hundert has been held for 6 days in segregation (the hole). He is facing institutional charges (which are different from criminal charges, but can prolong his sentence and assign punitive time in the hole) stemming from a refusal of lock down to protest general degrading of conditions in the jail.

The lock down refusal took place on Saturday January 12th, around 4 units participated and their demands were to reclaim 30 minutes at the end of the day (lockup at 7 instead of 6:30) so people could have more time to use the phones to call their families when the rates are significantly cheaper. That is also when relatives and friends are home from work and can take calls. At 6:50pm, after a 20 minute stand-off, fifty to sixty guards stormed the range and forced everyone into their cells. One guy was tackled, assaulted and dragged off the range in cuffs.

TORONTO — A senior police officer responsible for two notorious “kettling” incidents at the infamous G20 summit in 2010 had his case put over for two months Tuesday to allow time for disclosure.

Supt. Mark Fenton faces five separate charges related to the incidents in which police boxed in and arrested numerous people in the downtown core.

Fenton, who was the major incident commander at the time, is accused of making an illegal arrest, unlawful detention and harming the reputation of the police force.

He has pleaded not guilty and none of the allegations has been proven.

Speaking for the prosecution, lawyer Brendan van Niejenhuis asked Tuesday that the case be put over until March 4, saying the disclosure process was a “laborious process.”

Two-and-a-half years after G20 protests gripped Toronto’s downtown core, a handful of related court cases are still grinding through the system.

In its biannual update on G20 prosecutions, released Thursday, Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney-General said of the 326 people prosecuted by the provincial Crown, 313 have had their matters completed.

Veteran civil rights lawyer Clayton Ruby will ask Ontario’s Superior Court to overturn “backroom decisions” by three GTA police forces not to pursue complaints of officer misconduct during the G20 protests — even though the complaints have been substantiated by the province’s police oversight body.

Because the body, called the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD), took longer than six months to investigate, it directed police in Toronto, York and Peel not to launch disciplinary hearings against officers involved — even though it found that accusations of excessive use of force, unlawful detention and arrest, and illegal search had substance.

The police chiefs decided to follow OIPRD’s advice not to act on its findings, even though it was OIPRD itself that caused the delay.

“They (the OIPRD) had no right to direct police chiefs not to pursue these complaints, which were utterly simple and should have taken 30 minutes to complete, not six months,” said Ruby, whose firm has launched a lawsuit with the support of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

By Ian Robertson

Two top-ranking Toronto Police officers facing disciplinary charges arising from orders given to street cops during the G20 pleaded not guilty Thursday.

Supt. Mark Fenton and Insp. Gary Meissner appeared with legal counsel on the first day of a hearing at police headquarters as complainants — some arrested during the G20 in 2010 and at least one representing a family member who was arrested — listened to proceedings.

The brief police tribunal on Thursday, presided over by Staff-Supt. Kimberley Greenwood, was adjourned until Jan. 8, 2013, when a trial date is scheduled to be set.

The tribunal is one of 36 hearings recommended earlier this year by the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, which concluded in a May report that police officers used excessive force and abused power during the summit.

Hundreds of individuals submitted police complaints in the wake of the massive rights violations that took place during the 2010 G20 in Downtown Toronto

By Penelope Chester

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association is calling on several chiefs of Police and Ontario’s civilian oversight body, the Independent Police Review Director, to move forward on substantiated G20 complaints. The specific police complaints at issue are serious and involve substantiated allegations of unlawful detention and arrest, excessive use of force, and an illegal search. After written letters of concern to the OIPRD and Chiefs of Police were unsuccessful, the Association is now supporting court action on behalf of the complainants. Clayton Ruby and Gerald Chan of Ruby Shiller Chan Hasan Barristers are representing the complainants.

Charges against G20 blogger Dan Kellar are expected to be dropped at a court appearance on Thursday.

Kellar was charged with criminal harassment and intimidation after writing about his experience with two undercover police officers leading up to the June 2010 G20 summit.

According to Kellar’s lawyer Davin Charney, the Crown has indicated it will withdraw the charges.

“It is fundamental that people be free to criticize police. The police didn’t want these charges to go before a judge because they are totally and utterly baseless,” Charney said in a statement.

“The charges were laid to muzzle an activist.”

Kellar was arrested on Aug. 25, 2011, after he posted comments about the undercover officers on his blog.

Kellar said the officers had posed as his friend, and one of them even visited him at home and at work.

G20 activist launches $4M lawsuit against cops
A Toronto man who blogged about his relationship with an undercover police officer leading up to the G20 summit is in court on Wednesday, accused of breaking a publication ban.

Julian Ichim was arrested during the G20 summit in June 2010 and charged with counselling to commit indictable offences. Those charges were later dropped.

Ichim later filed a $4-million lawsuit against the Toronto Police Services Board, the provincial Crown and an undercover officer for alleged false imprisonment, assault and battery, misuse of public office and breaches of the Charter.

from Guelph ABC

On Friday, September 28th, 2012 George Horton was sentenced to 10 months in Jail for his actions during the anti-capitalist demonstrations during the 2010 G20 in Toronto. This will be followed by 2 years probation.

He was convicted of Intimidation of a Peace Office & Assault on a Police Officer related to the attack on a Toronto Police cruiser with Staff Sergeant Queens inside, as well as a number of attempted mischief’s on a number of police cruisers & a Tim Hortons. He was also convicted of Mischief over $5000 for attacking a CBC News Van. The Judge said these actions, “contributed to ongoing attacks on police, business and Media,” with George making a “notable contribution to the path of distraction [at the G20]“.

*Despite evidence of “organized and deliberate state misconduct” during the arrest of G20 protester Eva Botten, mischief charges against the 31-year-old accused will stand, a Superior Court judge ruled Thursday.*

Ms. Botten, accused of smashing shop windows during violent G20 protests in the downtown core two years ago, sought to have her mischief charges stayed on the basis that her Charter rights were violated when police kettled a group of protesters in the rain outside the Novotel hotel.

While Justice Harriet Sachs agreed the manner of Ms. Botten’s initial arrest breached section 9 of the Charter — which protects against arbitrary detention or imprisonment — she declined to toss out the charges, instead opting to exclude evidence gathered during the Novotel incident.

The pathologist who conducted a post-mortem examination on Ian Tomlinson could be struck off after a tribunal found him “misleading”, “dishonest” and “liable to bring his profession into disrepute”.

By Martin Evans

Dr Freddy Patel was found to be responsible for more than 60 failings while dealing with the case of the newspaper vendor who died after being pushed to the ground by a police officer during the G20 riots in 2009.

Dr Patel concluded that Mr Tomlinson died of coronary artery disease, but an inquest jury ruled that he had been unlawfully killed after additional medical reports suggested a blow to his liver had caused internal bleeding leading to heart attack.

Last month, Simon Harwood, the police officer who pushed 47-year-old Mr Tomlinson to the ground, was cleared of manslaughter by a jury at Southwark Crown Court.

By Krystalline Kraus

Toronto police are facing another G20 related lawsuit after a group of female activists alleged the police politically profiled them for arrest during the G20 Summit in Toronto.

During the two most intense days of demonstration against the G20, 1,105 people were arrested by police – the largest mass-arrest in Canadian peace time history.

While the epicenter of the G20 demonstrations were Friday June 25 to Sunday June 27,2012, the city was packed throughout the week with police officers from Toronto, Peel and other districts as well as contingents from the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), as well as members of Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).

When: Thursday August 9th at 10am
Where: Old City Hall (60 Queen St W)

George Horton Norabuena is an amazing photographer and activist from Peterborough being sentenced on G20 related charges this Thursday August 9th. He has been involved in Food not Bombs and a variety of other projects, besides being an animal lover and traveller.

George was convicted on May 15th 2012 on six charges related to the anti-G20 protests on the Saturday of the G20 weekend in Toronto in 2010. He was arrested later that fall after an individual wrote in to Toronto Police implicating him in alleged actions during the demonstrations.

George is facing a potential 20 months in prison.

On July 19, Kelly Rose Pflug-Back was sentenced to eleven more months in prison for her participation in the 2010 G20 protests in Toronto. She remains unapologetic about her role in the black bloc that caused so much disruption during the summit, demonstrating that the forces that impose capitalism and patriarchy are not invulnerable.

To support Kelly and the millions like her who are imprisoned for the inconveniences they pose to the powerful, we are proud to present her eloquent and thought-provoking memoir of the time she spent incarcerated after her original arrest: “Every Prisoner is a Political Prisoner.” In this account, Kelly powerfully evokes the experience of captivity and the importance of understanding all captives of the state as political prisoners.

Our friends Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness are publishing a book of Kelly’s poetry as a fundraiser to benefit her during her incarceration. Walt Whitman argued that “to have great poets there must be great audiences,” but audiences is precisely the opposite of what there must be. To have great poetry, there must be people who are willing to act on their ideals rather than just watch from the sidelines. We are deeply grateful to Kelly for finding the courage to live her poetry as well as writing it.

Seven people from the Hamilton area have filed a $1.4 million claim against the Toronto Police Services Board alleging illegal G20 arrests.

The lawsuit, according to a news release, claims that G20 protesters were illegally arrested and profiled for clothing and appearance.

Although not expressly mentioned in the claim, some of the plaintiffs believe they were profiled partly because females had “hairy legs,” according to lawyer Davin Charney.

They will hold a news conference at Toronto police headquarters on Wednesday at 10 a.m.

Charney said the lawsuit was filed just prior to the two-year limitation period at the end of June and may be the last G20 legal action to be served against the TPS board.

Ontario based anarchist Kelly Rose Plug-Back appeared in court July 19 to finish sentencing. Pflug-Back, 24, had accepted a non-cooperation plea bargain, pleading guilty to six counts of mischief and one of wearing a disguise with criminal intent. Kelly was sentenced to 15 months in prison. Her sentence is reduced by 4 months to a total of 11 months in prison do to time served. Following her prison time she will be on probation for 3 years. This is after already being on house arrest and strict conditions for nearly a year preceding her trials completion.

To place this in context, the man who was convicted for murdering her friend, Victoria street kid Ariana Simpson (Harley) by pushing her under a bus was only given a one year sentence with 250 hrs of community service.

Jayme Poisson and Jennifer Yang

The civilian board charged with overseeing Toronto police failed to uphold its responsibilities prior to the G20 by barely asking any questions and becoming a “mere bystander,” according to the final report to emerge from the summit.

But the problem goes beyond the 2010 G20 summit. In fact, the Toronto Police Services Board has been misinterpreting its mandate all along, according to the comprehensive 425-page report by retired judge John Morden.

The report, which focuses primarily on the role of civilian oversight and makes 38 recommendations, was to be released Friday but was inadvertently published online Thursday afternoon.