From LifeSiteNews

By Clare Marie Merkowsky

“So the most serious charges against all the Coutts accused -charges that kept them in jail without bail, in torturous solitary conditions that possibly violated international law- all failed?”

Two men linked to the 2022 Freedom Convoy-inspired border blockade protest in Coutts, Alberta, Anthony Olienick and Chris Carbert, have been acquitted of charges of conspiracy to commit murder, but not before being jailed and denied bail for over two years.    

On August 2, a jury in Lethbridge, Alberta found that the two men were not guilty of conspiracy to murder, finding them only guilty of the lesser charges of unlawful possession of a firearm for a dangerous purpose and mischief over $5,000. Olienick was also found guilty of unlawful possession of an explosive device.   

“So the most serious charges against all the Coutts accused -charges that kept them in jail without bail, in torturous solitary conditions that possibly violated international law- all failed?” Pro-freedom lawyer Daniel Freiheit questioned on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

So the most serious charges against all the Coutts accused -charges that kept them in jail without bail, in torturous solitary conditions that possibly violated international law- all failed?
Will the responsible Crown prosecutors be censured or rewarded for this strategy? https://t.co/VfU63Xfu5I

— Lion Advocacy (@LionAdvocacy) August 4, 2024

“Will the responsible Crown prosecutors be censured or rewarded for this strategy?” he asked.

Both Olienick and Carbert have been jailed since 2022 when, at the same time the Freedom Convoy descended on Ottawa to protest COVID restrictions, they joined an anti-COVID mandate blockade protest at the Alberta-Montana border crossing near Coutts, Alberta. The men were denied bail and kept in solitary confinement for some time before their trial.  

At the time, police said they had discovered a number of firearms, 36,000 rounds of ammunition, and industrial explosives at Olienick’s home. However, the guns were legally obtained, and the ammunition was typical of those used by rural Albertans. Similarly, Olienick explained that the explosives were used for mining gravel.   

Their acquittal is being celebrated by pro-freedom Canadians across the country, with many pointing out that they were being unjustly held as political prisoners similar to those in communist countries.   

“The Coutts Four political prisoners – some of whom spent months in solitary confinement (which is considered a form of torture in most countries) – in Canada say “hello” to their fellow political prisoners in Venezuela,” a citizen journalist pointed out, comparing the situation to the 2014 human rights violations in Venezuela.   

The men were arrested alongside Christopher Lysak and Jerry Morin, and all four were charged with conspiracy to murder. At the time, the “Coutts Four” were painted as dangerous terrorists and their arrest was used as justification for the Emergencies Act, which allowed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to use draconian measures to end both the Coutts blockade and the much larger Freedom Convoy occurring thousands of kilometers away in Ottawa.  

Under the EA, the Trudeau government froze the bank accounts of Canadians who donated to the protest. Trudeau  revoked the EA on February 23 after the protesters had been cleared out. At the time, seven of Canada’s 10 provinces opposed Trudeau’s use of the EA . 

Recently, Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley ruled that Trudeau was “not justified” in invoking the Emergencies Act.  

Lysak and Morin had already pleaded guilty to lesser crimes of possession of a weapon in an unauthorized place and conspiracy to traffic firearms prior to the August 2 ruling.  

It is important to note that Lysak pleaded guilty despite the fact that he did not attended the protest, and that the gun found by police in his trailer was registered and authorized, according to his lawyer.   

Similarly, Morin’s lawyer Greg Dunn pointed out that “the charge that Mr. Morin pled guilty to does not suggest that Mr. Morin at any time took firearms into Coutts, only that he agreed to.”