[news] RCMP, Canadian and U.S. Justice Depts. suffer total defeat in Barbarash case

[David]

RCMP, Canadian and U.S. Justice Depts. suffer total defeat in Barbarash
case

After 7 months, RCMP forced to return property after search warrant
quashed

Matthew Williams, crown counsel acting on behalf of both the Canadian and
U.S. Justice Departments, abruptly dropped all further proceedings against
former Animal Liberation Front spokesperson and veteran political activist
David Barbarash. Williams filed a 'Notice of Abandonment' in BC Supreme
Court on March 17, 2003.

All property seized in the July 30th raid will be returned to Barbarash
this week.

"The RCMP have completely given up and admitted total defeat in this
case," a jubiliant Barbarash said last week. "Another chapter of police
and government harassment against me has concluded."

This marks the conclusion of the latest chapter of police and political
harrasment Barbarash has been subjected to from the RCMP, CSIS, and
various other law enforcement agencies since 1994. It is unclear how many
thousands of taxpayer dollars were wasted in this latest police campaign.

The RCMP, acting on a search warrant issued by Justice Dohm in July 2002,
raided and seized property belonging to Barbarash in the case of a Maine
law enforcement investigation into minor criminal acts commited by the
Animal Liberation Front in 1999. Barbarash spoke to Maine media in support
of the ALF actions.

That search warrant was issued by request of the U.S. Dept. of Justice to
the Canadian Justice Dept. several times in 2000 and 2001, and finally
signed by Justice Dohm in 2002, amidst the post-Sept. 11th hysteria. Total
damages from the Maine incidents amounted to no more than $8700.

The warrant was quashed by Madame Justice Elizabeth Bennett on Dec.
15, 2002. Bennett stated that the information the search warrant was based
upon, a single photocopied newspaper article from Oct. 1999, was
"unreliable" and that the Information To Obtain the Search Warrant was
based upon "triple hearsay."

Barbarash was neither charged nor under investigation for any of the
alleged offences.

The RCMP's new anti-terrorist unit INSET (Integrated National Security
Enforcement Team), headed by Cpl. Derrick Ross, were utilized publicly for
only the second time in this raid against Barbarash, enforcing a request
made under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty betwen the two countries.

Established in June 2002, INSET "will help ensure early detection and
prevention of any potential threats to national security," according to an
RCMP press release. The mandate of INSET is "to work with their partners
nationally and internationally towards the common goal of detection and
disruption of potential terrorist threats." (RCMP press release, June
18th, 2002)

Barbarash is still wondering how speaking with the media, the reason he
was targeted, was a "potential terrorist threat."

Property seized from the raid included two computers, dozens of computer
disks, many videos on environmental, alternative media, and alternative
news issues, and misc. files. It was destined for law enforcement
authorities in Maine as well as the FBI. All of it will be returned this
week to Barbarash.

"The dropping of all proceedings and an agreement to return all the
property seized was the only resolution I ever saw happening," comments
David Barbarash.

"This whole ordeal, everything from the door they smashed when they raided
my home, to the wholesale seizure of my property, to the reliability of
the entire campaign on a photocopied newspaper article from Maine three
years ago, was just outrageous. This was pure harrasment and it reeks of
rot and decay. Law enforcement the world over suffer from an inherent
ethical bankruptcy and the RCMP are no exception."

B.C. Civil Liberties Association spokesperson Murray Mollard has commented
on the raid: "It raises the question what is terrorism? This would not be
the kind of action we consider terrorism. (The raid) appears to be using a
criminal matter to permit the United States to come into Canada. Its an
expansion of authority on what is essentially a criminal issue." (Comox
Valley Echo, Aug. 09, 2002)

Further information and interviews are available. Contact David Barbarash
at 604-645-3101.

Background information:

Canadian Secret Police Raid Anarchist Activist's Home for U.S. Authorities
http://www.ainfos.ca/sup/ainfos00247.html

Anti-terrorism police harass island activists
http://www.mondaymag.com/monday/editorial/43_2002/news.htm  (scroll down)

RCMP anti-terrorism team faces hearing in BC Supreme Court
https://lists.resist.ca/pipermail/van-announce/2002-September/000124.html