Trial Normandeau: the defence attempts once again to stop the procedures

Photo: Jacques Nadeau Archives The Duty
Nathalie Normandeau

The Duty and

Marie-Michele Sioui

in Quebec city

12: 01 pm

• Quebec

The ex-ministers to liberal Marc-Yvan Côté and Nathalie Normandeau presented themselves at the palace of justice of Quebec on Tuesday morning, at the opening of the hearing on a new application for a stay of proceedings filed by their lawyers.

For a second time, the defense will attempt this week to convince the judge André Perreault to put an end to the legal proceedings, four years after the arrest of Mr. Côté, Ms. Normandeau, and their four co-accused. She believes that the accused are facing unreasonable delay and that their trial should not take place, in the light of the teachings of the stop Jordan of the supreme Court of Canada.

In the morning, the lawyers of the accused are obliged to read a history of the procedures in this folder. These are numerous : in addition to the two requests of type Jordan, a third application filed by the defence for the leaks to media, which would have also affected the fairness of the trial, according to the defence. This request has gone up to the supreme Court.

Marc-Yvan Côté and Nathalie Normandeau, have been arrested in 2016, as part of an investigation of the Unité permanente anti-corruption on the granting of political financing in exchange for public contracts. The same stroke of the net was the ex-head of cabinet of Ms. Normandeau, Bruno Lortie, as well as the former mayor of Gaspe, Francois Roussy, Mario W. Martel and France Michaud, of the engineering firm Roche. A former political attaché of Pauline Marois, Ernest Murray, has also been arrested. He pleaded guilty in 2017, having advised a offence that was not committed. He received a conditional discharge.

Postponements due to coronavirus

The type query to Jordan — the second one presented in the dossier in order to put an end to proceedings due to unreasonable delay — was scheduled to be heard on march 16.

However, the crisis of the COVID-19 has forced the postponement of the hearing, the judge André Perreault has declared this day that those present represented ” all [your] threats the a [e] s to the other “, in a context of a pandemic.

The magistrate of the Court of Québec had agreed in January to hear this new application to stay proceedings for unreasonable delay filed by the lawyers of the ex-liberal ministers and their co-accused.

For a second time, the latter will attempt therefore to highlight the facts and the actions of the State which, according to them, subjected to their clients of time limits “cruel and inhuman” — such that qualified Nathalie Normandeau. The judge Perreault has rejected a first request of Jordan, for unreasonable delay, in march 2018.

The pursuit was abandoned in August 2019, five of the eight charges against Nathalie Normandeau. The latter is always accused of breach of trust, subscription fraud a cash election and corruption in municipal affairs.

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