Printed 2 years ago today.....Oct 11 is coming...New Mayor Fascist Mayor Mike O'Brien is going after Blogger for Court Cost!!

September 30, 2014 Fredericton blogger Charles LeBlanc is suing the City of Fredericton for more than $60,000. He alleges in his statement of claim that the Fredericton Police Force sought retaliation after LeBlanc videotaped a controversial police takedown. Photo: Stephen MacGillivray/The Daily Gleaner archive Controversial blogger and anti-poverty activist Charles LeBlanc is suing the City of Fredericton over what he claims is retaliation by the police force for his role in the prosecution of a constable. LeBlanc filed a notice of action and statement of claim in the Court of Queen’s Bench in January, seeking damages in excess of $60,000. He claims members of the Fredericton Police Force turned their attention to him after he recorded three officers using force to effect an arrest in the city’s downtown bar district in July 2009. That video and other information led to the prosecution of Const. Stephen Stafford for assault, a charge of which he was acquitted in June 2011. “The plaintiff contends that the Fredericton Police Force began to target him after the trial was concluded because of his incriminating video and corroborating testimony,” LeBlanc’s statement of claim says. The document details a number of contentious encounters between the blogger and city police officers i the weeks following Stafford’s acquittal, including being fined $29 for cycling without a helmet 17 days after the acquittal; being fined $140 for cycling on the sidewalk about a month after the acquittal; and being issued a bylaw infraction and being arrested in September 2011 for his protest outside the city police station. LeBlanc pleaded guilty to the criminal disturbance charge and was sentenced to probation. The same week, city police raided his downtown apartment, seized computer equipment and charged him with criminal libel for comments he made on his blog about city police officers. The provincial attorney general’s office opted not to proceed with that libel charge, citing decisions from other jurisdictions that found the charge to be unconstitutional. The statement of claim also contends the city police purposely misled LeBlanc’s Internet service provider in its effort to obtain information in the libel investigation by referring to child sexual exploitation in a document filed with the provider. “The plaintiff claims that the Fredericton Police Force intimidated him, placed a chill on his freedom of expression, invaded his privacy, violated his constitutional rights…” the document states. LeBlanc is seeking $50,000 in damages for the alleged breaches of his rights, $10,000 for emotional distress and any other damages and costs to be determined by the court. The city filed a statement of defence earlier this year, denying LeBlanc’s claims of harassment, unjust targeting by the police and violations of his rights. The statement of claim also notes that after he was fined for cycling on the sidewalk – which was based on a complaint filed with the police by New Brunswick legislature Sgt.-at-Arms Dan Bussieres – LeBlanc went to the police with photographic evidence of jaywalking infractions committed by provincial politicians in the capital. LeBlanc says the police department’s refusal to issue tickets and fines to those officials amounts to proof the force has it out for him. But the city’s statement of defence points out LeBlanc brought those jaywalking complaints forward months after they were alleged to have occurred. Furthermore, it contends the photographic evidence showed the blogger was just as guilty of the infraction he was alleging on the politicians’ part. “The plaintiff was walking alongside at least one of the individuals at the time of the incident; accordingly, he too, was jaywalking,” the defence statement says, noting another one of the politicians was crossing the street to get away from LeBlanc. “The plaintiff’s complaint was seen as a retaliation or protest against the justice system, given its timing, and was not made in good faith.” LeBlanc’s own statement of claim confirms he filed the jaywalking complaint to make a point about discrimination based on social status. In its statement of defence, the city said the police force’s inclusion of a reference to a child sexual exploitation investigation in its written communication with the Internet service provider was a clerical error. None of the allegations LeBlanc makes in his statement of claim has been proven in court. No date has been set to hear the lawsuit.