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Rally and court solidarity
Truth and Justice for Anas ! We demand a public inquiry!
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Palais de Justice: 1, Notre-Dame East (Champs-de-Mars metro)
Rally: 1pm
Court solidarity: 2pm
- Come show your solidarity with the Bennis family, who has been fighting for justice for four-and-a-half years!
- Come speak out against the shameful actions of the Montreal Police Brotherhood
- Come demand a public inquiry in the death of Anas!
The Justice for Anas Coalition invites you to come and support the Bennis family in their struggle for justice and truth into the circumstances surrounding Anas’ death, a struggle they have been leading for four-and-a-half years now. The* Montreal Police Brotherhood's motion* to cancel the public inquiry into Mohamed Anas Bennis' death at the hands of a police officer in Côte-des-Neiges will continue to be heard this Tuesday, May 11. JOIN US to demand a public inquiry! Let's show the Brotherbood we are not intimidated by their shameful tactics!
Background
In June 2008, after two years of intense struggle for the Bennis family, the Quebec Coroner-in-Chief, Louise Nolet, ordered a public inquiry into the death of Anas Bennis. But, in August of the same year, the Montreal Police Brotherhood filed a motion in Superior Court contending that the public inquiry was unnecessary. The hearings finally started in June 2009, when lawyers of the Montreal Police Brotherhood -- as well as of the city of Montreal and Quebec City -- pleaded in favour of the motion to quash the inquiry. During this Tuesday's hearing, Alain Arsenault, lawyer for the Bennis family, will now have his turn to plead in favour of the right of the family to have a public inquiry.
On May 5th, 2010, the Quebec Court of Appeal overturned a 2008 decision of the Superior Court that quashed the public inquiry called into the death of Michel Berniquez. Berniquez died in June 2003 after being brutally arrested by six officers in Montreal-North. The 2008 Superior Court decision gave reason to the Montreal Police Brotherhood, which was asking that the public inquiry be canceled, similar to what it is pushing for in the case of the public inquiry called into Anas' death. This decision of the Court of Appeal reaffirms that the Bennis family, like the Berniquez family and the public at large, are justified in their demand for a public inquiry to obtain the truth.
On December 1st, 2005, Mohamed Anas Bennis was walking home following morning prayers at a neighborhood mosque in Côte-des-Neiges when he was killed by two bullets shot by officer Yannick Bernier of the Montreal police. Since then, the Bennis family has been asking why. The police version of the event, according to which Anas ostensibly attacked an officer for no reason, was never substantiated and is full of inconsistencies. Let’s demand truth and justice for Anas !