Former Parti Québécois leader André Boisclair’s criminal cases on allegations of sexual assault are due back in court today.
Boisclair, 56, has pleaded not guilty to charges in separate cases involving two alleged victims whose identities are covered by a publication ban.
In one case, Boisclair is charged with sexual assault with the participation of a third party and sexual assault with a weapon in connection with events that allegedly took place in January 2014.
In the other, Boisclair is charged with sexual assault for events alleged to have taken place in November 2015.
He renounced his right to a preliminary inquiry in both cases last September and elected to go straight to trial before judge alone.
Boisclair was a provincial cabinet minister and served as PQ leader between 2005 and 2007 when the party was in opposition.
He was later Quebec’s delegate general in New York from 2012 to 2013 and was president of the Urban Development Institute of Quebec from 2016 until his arrest.
Boisclair was elected for the first time in the Montreal riding of Gouin in 1989 when we was just 23.
