Christopher Lysak, one of four men charged with conspiracy to murder at an Alberta border blockade protest earlier this year, has asked to go directly to trial.
A lawyer for Lysak, 48, told a Lethbridge judge on April 11 that he is waiving his right to a preliminary hearing in favour of being tried by a judge and jury in the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench.
“He is detained and would like the earliest trial,” lawyer Alias Sanders told The Canadian Press on behalf of Lysak’s lawyer, Jim Lutz.
Lysak, who has been denied bail, is also charged with uttering threats, possession of a weapon, and mischief to property over $5000.
He was among the 11 people arrested on Feb. 14 at the Coutts border protest in southern Alberta after the RCMP said they had received information the same day that a “small organized group” within the larger Coutts protest had access to a cache of firearms and ammunition. The police executed a search warrant on three trailers believed to be associated with the group and seized 13 long guns, handguns, multiple sets of body armour, a machete, a large quantity of ammunition, and high-capacity magazines in the process. A total of fourteen people were charged following the RCMP investigation.
Police alleged that this group was willing to use force if the blockade at the border was disrupted, describing their threat to be “very serious.”
The Coutts blockade started in late January and lasted for nearly three weeks. It was one of several protests that shut down Canada-U.S. border crossings in solidarity with the larger Freedom Convoy demonstration in downtown Ottawa that opposed the federal COVID-19 vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers. The Ottawa convoy sparked a national movement that attracted supporters calling for an end to all pandemic-related restrictions.
The blockade at the Coutts border ended following the RCMP arrests of the small group linked to the firearms with a convoy organizer explaining that they didn’t want to be associated with violence.
“We want to wrap this up in a peaceful way,” Marco Van Huigenbos said in a video message posted on Twitter by Rebel News reporter Syd Fizzard on Feb. 14.
Aside from Lysak, Chris Carbert, Anthony Olienick, and Jerry Morin are also charged with conspiracy to murder. The four men are scheduled to return to court on April 25.
Lawyers representing Carbert and Morin indicated they were planning to seek bail hearings for their clients. Calgary lawyer Alain Hepner is on the record as Olienick’s counsel.
Additional evidence from the RCMP was made available to lawyers on April 8, including wiretap audio and wiretap summaries, according to Crown prosecutor Aaron Rankin.
Issac Teo and The Canadian Press contributed to this article
