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Tracy Huffman, 03/25/2000, The Toronto Star
A hate-crime case which lasted almost three years ended ...
Tracy Huffman, 03/25/2000, The Toronto Star
A hate-crime case which lasted almost three years ended yesterday with the dismissal of all charges against four adults and two youths.
In delivering his verdict, Mr. Justice Russell Otter said the crown failed to prove the case against the six skinheads who were charged with promoting hate against Roma people in an August, 1997, demonstration outside a Kingston Rd. motel.
Although defense lawyer Peter Lindsay never argued against the claim that the six accused were at the protest, he said they did not demonstrate hate against the Roma people.
"There was no evidence whatsoever established by the crown that there was willful promotion of hatred against the Roma ," Otter said.
About 25 protesters had gathered outside the Lido Motel where Czech Roma refugee claimants were staying. They chanted and carried placards reading "Honk if You Hate Gypsies " and "Canada is not a trash can."
Some of the protesting skinheads wore scarves over their faces and carried a flag bearing a Nazi swastika.
But the case was dismissed because the charges referred to Roma and not Gypsy, said Otter. The crown failed to prove the terms are one and the same, despite several attempts to do so, the judge said.
"I can only rely on the evidence presented in court," he said.
`There was no evidence whatsoever established by the crown that there was willful promotion of hatred'
Crown Attorney Maggie Lazaridis had argued the two terms are used interchangeably, but that the term "Gypsy" is pejorative and for that reason was not used in the charges.
The six skinheads refused to comment outside the courthouse.
"I never comment on cases," said Lindsay, when asked to comment on the judge's ruling. "I think the judgment speaks for itself."
Lazaridis said she is considering an appeal.
The case involved four adults - Kryusztof Krymowski, Ryan Marshall, Michael Schulz and Quinn McFarlane, all in their 20s - and two young offenders. All six had entered not guilty pleas.
Outside court, Danny Roth, spokesperson for the Canadian Jewish Congress, Ontario division, expressed his disappointment with the decision.
"The interest of justice obviously has not been served by today's ruling. We strongly urge and hope the crown will appeal this decision," Roth said. "We feel very badly and empathize with the Roma community."
The Canadian Jewish Congress will continue to work with prosecutors and the police to encourage these types of prosecutions, he said.
"I'm just horrified . . . It's general knowledge to everybody except this court that Gypsy and Roma are synonymous," said Ronald Lee, of the Roma Community and Advocacy Centre or Toronto.
"I wouldn't think it would be necessary - if this sign had said Negroes - to prove that Negroes meant blacks," he said.
". . . I don't see why the connection even had to be made."
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