Four alleged G20 violence ringleaders in court

From the Toronto Star:

Four alleged G20 violence ringleaders appear in court

Year-long undercover investigation infiltrated anarchist planning meetings, police allege

Fires were still burning in Toronto Saturday afternoon as Crown attorneys laid out their case against four alleged ringleaders of the violence.

Amanda Hiscocks, Leah Henderson, Alex Hundert and Peter Hopperton appeared before a justice of the peace and had their bail hearing put over till Monday at the request of a prosecutor who said he was overwhelmed by the volume of evidence collected by numerous police forces in a year-long undercover investigation.

Crown attorney Vincent Paris said a plan for violence had been put into place over a series of meetings leading up to the G20 Summit, “action which is what’s happening now.”

The four, allegedly executives in the Southern Ontario Anarchist Resistance, were arrested Friday morning and charged with conspiracy to commit indictable mischief. They are among 15 alleged co-conspirators.

Paris said that their arrest was the culmination of a large-scale investigation, which is still ongoing, involving two undercover agents.

The investigation began in April 2009.

It was conducted by a joint intelligence group that included the RCMP, Ontario Provincial Police, as well as the Toronto, Peel, Waterloo, Ottawa, Guelph and Barrie police services.

The undercover officers infiltrated criminal extremist groups in Guelph, Kitchener, Waterloo and Toronto and forged relationships with several people whose ideological beliefs and backgrounds pose a direct threat to large-scale public events, including the G20 and the Vancouver Olympics, according to the allegations They planned to “use the cover of a lawful protest to break off and do this kind of criminal activity,” Paris said.

The list of contemplated targets included Metro Hall, City Hall, Goldman Sachs, The Bay, as well as the U.S., Russian and Indian consulates.

“We are a little overwhelmed by the information,” Paris said. “The information is coming in fast.”

The alleged conspirators discussed using golf balls, body armour, fireworks and flares, Paris said.

But defence lawyer Brydie Bethell said the Crown had no specific evidence related to her clients.

“There is nothing wrong under the Constitution with participating and planning peaceful protest.”

She said there was little to link her clients to “the situation ongoing downtown.”

Meanwhile, a visual artist charged in the G20 security investigation of her common law spouse was released on $25,000 bail.

On Saturday afternoon Kristen Peterson, 37, was released on condition she live with her parents in their Glencairn Ave. home.

Looking relaxed in green jail issue sweats, Peterson smiled at her father and mother, John and Maureen Peterson, who were sitting in court.

She is barred from communicating with her spouse and co-accused, Byron Sonne, 37, a computer expert charged with several G20-related offences.

She is also barred from accessing any website controlled by Sonne and is barred from altering their joint financial accounts.

Peterson is charged with possession of an explosive device and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose.

She had no comment as she left court with her parents.

Sonne appeared separately from her.

Dressed in a black T-shirt and jeans, he looked haggard as his lawyer asked that his case be put over until June 30.

He is charged with intimidation of justice system participants, mischief, possession of explosives and weapons dangerous.

Sonne was arrested Wednesday as a result of a police search conducted at the couple's home in Forest Hill.

Emomotimi Azorbo, a deaf man who says he was watching a protest Thursday night when he was arrested and held overnight without access to counsel and an interpreter, was released Saturday on bail.

Azorbo, 30, was arrested at the intersection of College and Yonge Sts. after he did not heed police commands to stay off the road, his friends say.

“The police should have been prepared for this,” said Dean Walker of the Ontario Association of the Deaf.