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Setback for Censorship: B.C. Judge Refuses to Gag Dissident Arthur
Topham Before "Hate" Trial

Radical Press Legal Update #8

January 4, 2012

http://www.radicalpress.com/?p=1894

Dear Supporters of Freedom of Speech,

January 3, 2013 was a good day in B.C. and across the nation for those
who have taken up metaphorical arms in defence of Canada's fundamental
right to freedom of speech on the Internet.

Here in B.C. and out in Ontario those battling against the forces of
media censorship and repression were, in both cases, successful in
their efforts and thus, for once, I have only positive news to report.

During the last court appearance in December presiding Judge Church,
after hearing arguments from both the Crown and Defence regarding the
Crown's rather strident and persistent effort to reimpose the original
bail conditions that were placed on me by Cst. Terry Wilson of the BC
HATE CRIME TEAM back on May 16, 2012, reserved her judgement on the
issue until January 3, 2013.

My lawyer Doug Christie attended by telephone from Victoria, B.C. and
my wife and I were in the Quesnel Court room at 1:30 p.m. to hear
Judge Church's decision.

The Judge first gave an overview of the Crown's arguments and those of
Defence lawyer Mr. Christie before presenting her own position on the
issue. According to Judge Church the Crown's basic argument was that
while I had legally resumed publishing on RadicalPress.com (
http://radicalpress.com/ ) on November 2, 2012 I was still publishing
material that the Crown felt was of the same calibre as that
originally complained of by Harry Abrams and Richard Warman. To back
up Crown's argument Crown counsel Jennifer Johnston had submitted to
Judge Church on December 19, 2012 a couple of screen shots taken from
the radicalpress.com ( http://radicalpress.com/ ) website that had
supposed controversial headings which CC Johnston felt were
significant enough that they warranted reinstating the original
draconian restrictions that Cst Terry Wilson had unilaterally saddled
me with on the day of my arrest in May.

Having considered these apparently pithy examples of willful promotion
of hatred against “people of the Jewish religion or ethnic group"
Judge Church went on to say that while the screen shots may have (as
Crown was alleging), indicated an "undertone" of hatred toward those
of the Jewish faith, Crown had not gone so far as to state that the
captured text was in fact hateful. Furthermore, Crown had not
disclosed to Judge Church any additional corroborating information
pertaining to the screen shots in question which Crown was alleging
were displaying such sentiments and so, according to the Judge, she
had no way of determining whether or not the screen shots or the
accompanying articles were, in fact, contravening sec. 319(2) of the
CC of Canada.

Judge Church then went on to review Defence council Doug Christie's
arguments which basically stated Crown was attempting to pre-judge the
published materials before a trial was held to determine whether or
not they were in truth a contravention of sec. 319(2). It was also
established that I am, in fact, a publisher and that under Canada's
constitution I have the right to publish articles deemed to be of
interest to the general public and until such time that said articles
are proven in a court of law to have contravened Canada's hate crime
legislation that my right to publish should not be pre-emptively
prohibited simply because of allegations of wrong doing by those who
feel particular materials are wilfully promoting hatred toward an
ethnic minority. Throughout the course of her comments the Judge
referred to the cases cited by both Crown and Defence during the
previous hearing on December 19, 2012.

Another issue that had come up on December 19, 2012 was that of
Disclosure. The Crown had then argued that they were withholding
disclosure from my attorney because of a breach of protocol that had
occurred back in the summer when a confidential document released to
Doug Christie was later found to have been posted on a third party
website (FreeDominion.ca ( http://freedominion.ca/ )). The Judge went
on to describe the event which had to do with what is called a "Warned
Statement" which was a digitally recorded conversation between myself
and the arresting officer Cst Terry Wilson on the day of my arrest.
The Crown alleged that the breach (committed by me due to ignorance of
the nature of the document) posed a serious threat to the safety of
the two complainants in the case Warman and Abrams and for that reason
Crown had filed a further application demanding that my lawyer not
provide me with any further disclosure because I might intentionally
publish it or give it to someone else who might publish it and in the
process endanger the complainants. CC Johnston had cited the case of
the Basi-Virk Trial involving the BC Rail/BC Liberal government
scandal as reasoning for her allegations.

The Judge then went on to state that the case law cited by Crown in
fact dealt with examples where secondary parties who were testifying
may have been at risk but that in my case it was information which I
personally had given to Cst. Terry Wilson and was, as my lawyer had
stated, not of the same nature and certainly did not pose any direct
threat to either of the two individuals who had complained to the
RCMP. As such the Judge did not feel that the Crown's argument that
Mr. Christie be restricted in sharing disclosure with me was valid.

Judge Church also considered Doug Christie's counter argument that it
would be an unreasonable and onerous position to be placed in were he
not allowed to share the information in any disclosure with his client
unless I was under his direct supervision given the fact that he was
in Victoria and I was 700 km away in Quesnel. Mr. Christie had
indicated on December 19, 2012 that he and his client would be more
than willing to sign an undertaking prohibiting me from disclosing any
further confidential information in order to insure that no such
breach occurred a second time. The Judge was able to see the logic of
Mr. Christie's arguments while at the same time dismissing Crown's
position that the breach in question could have endangered the two
complainants and went on to say that while she would not be imposing
the two original conditions that prohibited me from publishing on
radicalpress.com ( http://radicalpress.com/ ) or writing articles for
publication wherever I so chose she would be issuing an order that
would make it illegal for me republish any further disclosure. At this
point she also stating she would not impose upon Mr. Christie the
condition that he be in attendance whenever disclosing confidential
documents to me.

Having read out her decision regarding the matters at hand the Judge
reinstated the new bail conditions and asked me if I understood them.
I acknowledged that I did. As such here are the new bail conditions
which I am now to legally abide by:

CONDITION ONE: You shall keep the peace and be of good behaviour.

CONDITION TWO: You shall have no contact or communication, directly or
indirectly, with Richard Warman or Harry Abrams except as follows: (a)
while in attendance at court; (b) through legal counsel.

CONDITION THREE: You shall not possess any weapon as defined in
Section 2 of the criminal Code except for purposes directly related to
your employment.

CONDITION FOUR: You shall not distribute, circulate or share all or
any part of the Crown disclosure material with any person or
organization.

CONDITION FIVE: You shall not publish or post all or any part of the
Crown disclosure material on any internet site that can be read by the
general public.

Having listened to the conditions of the new undertaking and given my
consent to obey them the Judge then concluded the hearing. My wife and
I then went for coffee and returned later to the Court Registry office
where the undertaking was waiting for my signature. After signing it
and obtaining a copy we left the building.

Included in the new undertaking was a notice stating that I would
appear in court on April 2, 2013 at 1:30 pm PT in Quesnel for the
preliminary hearing.

For some unknown reason Crown counsel Jennifer Johnston was absent
from the court room and another assistant Crown counsel was sitting in
for her.

So by all indications it looks like I will finally have some temporary
respite from all the legal machinations that have been occurring over
the past three months and I can focus on raising funds and adding
further information to radicalpress.com ( http://radicalpress.com/ )
that will assist others in understanding both the importance of this
case and why it is that Canadians must sit up and pay much more
attention to what these foreign lobbyists are doing to wreck our
inherent right to freedom of expression and censor any and debate that
focuses on the criminal and racist actions of the state of Israel and
its dangerous and supremacist ideology known as Zionism.

Sincerely

Arthur Topham
Publisher & Editor
The Radical Press
"Digging to the root of the issues since 1998"
------------------------------------------------------------

NOTE: The struggle to retain our inherent right to freedom of speech
doesn't come without costs both financially and otherwise. Out of
necessity, I am forced to ask for financial assistance in this ongoing
battle with the foreign interest censors who are determined to stop
all freedom of expression in Canada. Due to the fact that the Crown is
refusing to give the required disclosure to my lawyer I am not able to
apply for legal aid. This leaves me in the unenviable position of
having to rely solely upon donations to pay for my legal expenses.
As of January 3, 2013 there are additional costs to those already
incurred that now stand at $5,222.79 still owing on Mr. Christie's
account. Given my minimal monthly pension of approximately $1400.00
out of which I must pay my mortgage and utilities and insurance on
home and vehicles (this doesn't cover additional costs for fuel and
food) which come to approximately $1200.00 one can see that it's
virtually impossible for me to cover these expenses without further
assistance from supporters.

As such I would once again implore readers to give serious
consideration to helping me out by either sending a donation via
PayPal using either a PayPal account or a credit card or else sending
a cheque or Money Order or cash to me via snail mail at the following
postal address. Cash of course also works. Please don't make the
cheque out to "RadicalPress" as that account is no longer available to
me.
Arthur Topham
4633 Barkerville Highway
Quesnel, B.C.
Canada
V2J 6T8
To access my PayPal button please go to either the Home Page at
http://www.radicalpress.com or my blog
http://www.quesnelcariboosentinel.com The PayPal button is up on the
right hand corner of the Home Page on either site. Feel free to click
on it.
Sincerely,
Arthur Topham
Pub/Ed

_____________________________
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Setback for Censorship: B.C. Judge Refuses to Gag Dissident Arthur Topham Before "Hat

Written by Paul Fromm

Saturday, 05 January 2013 06:27

*Setback for Censorship: B.C. Judge Refuses to Gag Dissident Arthur Topham
Before "Hate" Trial*
**
**
*Radical Press Legal Update #8*
*
*
*January 4, 2012*
*
*http://www.radicalpress.com/?p=1894

*
*
*Dear Supporters of Freedom of Speech,*

January 3, 2013 was a good day in B.C. and across the nation for those who
have taken up metaphorical arms in defence of Canada's fundamental right to
freedom of speech on the Internet.

Here in B.C. and out in Ontario those battling against the forces of media
censorship and repression were, in both cases, successful in their efforts
and thus, for once, I have only positive news to report.

During the last court appearance in December presiding Judge Church, after
hearing arguments from both the Crown and Defence regarding the Crown's
rather strident and persistent effort to reimpose the original bail
conditions that were placed on me by Cst. Terry Wilson of the BC HATE CRIME
TEAM back on May 16, 2012, reserved her judgement on the issue until
January 3, 2013.

My lawyer Doug Christie attended by telephone from Victoria, B.C. and my
wife and I were in the Quesnel Court room at 1:30 p.m. to hear Judge
Church's decision.

The Judge first gave an overview of the Crown's arguments and those of
Defence lawyer Mr. Christie before presenting her own position on the
issue. According to Judge Church the Crown's basic argument was that while
I had legally resumed publishing on
RadicalPress.com<http://radicalpress.com/>on November 2, 2012 I was
still publishing material that the Crown felt was
of the same calibre as that originally complained of by Harry Abrams and
Richard Warman. To back up Crown's argument Crown counsel Jennifer Johnston
had submitted to Judge Church on December 19, 2012 a couple of screen shots
taken from the radicalpress.com website that had supposed controversial
headings which CC Johnston felt were significant enough that they warranted
reinstating the original draconian restrictions that Cst Terry Wilson had
unilaterally saddled me with on the day of my arrest in May.

Having considered these apparently pithy examples of willful promotion of
hatred against “people of the Jewish religion or ethnic group" Judge Church
went on to say that while the screen shots may have (as Crown was
alleging), indicated an "undertone" of hatred toward those of the Jewish
faith, Crown had not gone so far as to state that the captured text was in
fact hateful. Furthermore, Crown had not disclosed to Judge Church any
additional corroborating information pertaining to the screen shots in
question which Crown was alleging were displaying such sentiments and so,
according to the Judge, she had no way of determining whether or not the
screen shots or the accompanying articles were, in fact, contravening sec.
319(2) of the CC of Canada.

Judge Church then went on to review Defence council Doug Christie's
arguments which basically stated Crown was attempting to pre-judge the
published materials before a trial was held to determine whether or not
they were in truth a contravention of sec. 319(2). It was also established
that I am, in fact, a publisher and that under Canada's constitution I have
the right to publish articles deemed to be of interest to the general
public and until such time that said articles are proven in a court of law
to have contravened Canada's hate crime legislation that my right to
publish should not be pre-emptively prohibited simply because of
allegations of wrong doing by those who feel particular materials are
wilfully promoting hatred toward an ethnic minority. Throughout the course
of her comments the Judge referred to the cases cited by both Crown and
Defence during the previous hearing on December 19, 2012.

Another issue that had come up on December 19, 2012 was that of Disclosure.
The Crown had then argued that they were withholding disclosure from my
attorney because of a breach of protocol that had occurred back in the
summer when a confidential document released to Doug Christie was later
found to have been posted on a third party website
(FreeDominion.ca<http://freedominion.ca/>).
The Judge went on to describe the event which had to do with what is called
a "Warned Statement" which was a digitally recorded conversation between
myself and the arresting officer Cst Terry Wilson on the day of my arrest.
The Crown alleged that the breach (committed by me due to ignorance of the
nature of the document) posed a serious threat to the safety of the two
complainants in the case Warman and Abrams and for that reason Crown had
filed a further application demanding that my lawyer not provide me with
any further disclosure because I might intentionally publish it or give it
to someone else who might publish it and in the process endanger the
complainants. CC Johnston had cited the case of the Basi-Virk Trial
involving the BC Rail/BC Liberal government scandal as reasoning for her
allegations.

The Judge then went on to state that the case law cited by Crown in fact
dealt with examples where secondary parties who were testifying may have
been at risk but that in my case it was information which I personally had
given to Cst. Terry Wilson and was, as my lawyer had stated, not of the
same nature and certainly did not pose any direct threat to either of the
two individuals who had complained to the RCMP. As such the Judge did not
feel that the Crown's argument that Mr. Christie be restricted in sharing
disclosure with me was valid.

Judge Church also considered Doug Christie's counter argument that it would
be an unreasonable and onerous position to be placed in were he not allowed
to share the information in any disclosure with his client unless I was
under his direct supervision given the fact that he was in Victoria and I
was 700 km away in Quesnel. Mr. Christie had indicated on December 19, 2012
that he and his client would be more than willing to sign an undertaking
prohibiting me from disclosing any further confidential information in
order to insure that no such breach occurred a second time. The Judge was
able to see the logic of Mr. Christie's arguments while at the same time
dismissing Crown's position that the breach in question could have
endangered the two complainants and went on to say that while she would not
be imposing the two original conditions that prohibited me from publishing
on radicalpress.com or writing articles for publication wherever I so chose
she would be issuing an order that would make it illegal for me republish
any further disclosure. At this point she also stating she would not impose
upon Mr. Christie the condition that he be in attendance whenever
disclosing confidential documents to me.

Having read out her decision regarding the matters at hand the Judge
reinstated the new bail conditions and asked me if I understood them. I
acknowledged that I did. As such here are the new bail conditions which I
am now to legally abide by:

*CONDITION ONE:* You shall keep the peace and be of good behaviour.

*CONDITION TWO:* You shall have no contact or communication, directly or
indirectly, with Richard Warman or Harry Abrams except as follows: (a)
while in attendance at court; (b) through legal counsel.

*CONDITION THREE:* You shall not possess any weapon as defined in Section 2
of the criminal Code except for purposes directly related to your
employment.

*CONDITION FOUR: *You shall not distribute, circulate or share all or any
part of the Crown disclosure material with any person or organization.

*CONDITION FIVE:* You shall not publish or post all or any part of the
Crown disclosure material on any internet site that can be read by the
general public.

Having listened to the conditions of the new undertaking and given my
consent to obey them the Judge then concluded the hearing. My wife and I
then went for coffee and returned later to the Court Registry office where
the undertaking was waiting for my signature. After signing it and
obtaining a copy we left the building.

Included in the new undertaking was a notice stating that I would appear in
court on *April 2, 2013* at *1:30 pm PT* in Quesnel for the preliminary
hearing.

For some unknown reason Crown counsel Jennifer Johnston was absent from the
court room and another assistant Crown counsel was sitting in for her.

So by all indications it looks like I will finally have some temporary
respite from all the legal machinations that have been occurring over the
past three months and I can focus on raising funds and adding further
information to radicalpress.com that will assist others in understanding
both the importance of this case and why it is that Canadians must sit up
and pay much more attention to what these foreign lobbyists are doing to
wreck our inherent right to freedom of expression and censor any and debate
that focuses on the criminal and racist actions of the state of Israel and
its dangerous and supremacist ideology known as Zionism.

Sincerely

Arthur Topham
Publisher & Editor
The Radical Press
*"Digging to the root of the issues since 1998"*
*------------------------------------------------------------*
*
*
*
NOTE: The struggle to retain our inherent right to freedom of speech
doesn't come without costs both financially and otherwise. Out of
necessity, I am forced to ask for financial assistance in this
ongoingbattle with the foreign interest censors who are determined to
stop all
freedom of expression in Canada. Due to the fact that the Crown is refusing
to give the required disclosure to my lawyer I am not able to apply for
legal aid. This leaves me in the unenviable position of having to rely
solely upon donations to pay for my legal expenses.
As of January 3, 2013 there are additional costs to those already incurred
that now stand at $5,222.79 still owing on Mr. Christie's account. Given my
minimal monthly pension of approximately $1400.00 out of which I must pay
my mortgage and utilities and insurance on home and vehicles (this doesn't
cover additional costs for fuel and food) which come to approximately
$1200.00 one can see that it's virtually impossible for me to cover these
expenses without further assistance from supporters.
As such I would once again implore readers to give serious consideration to
helping me out by either sending a donation via PayPal using either a
PayPal account or a credit card or else sending a cheque or Money Order or
cash to me via snail mail at the following postal address. Cash of course
also works. Please don't make the cheque out to "RadicalPress" as that
account is no longer available to me.
Arthur Topham
4633 Barkerville Highway
Quesnel, B.C.
Canada
V2J 6T8
To access my PayPal button please go to either the Home Page at
http://www.radicalpress.com or my blog
http://www.quesnelcariboosentinel.comThe PayPal button is up on the
right hand corner of the Home Page on either
site. Feel free to click on it.
*

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