Intermittently I get inquiries about what happened to the punks who were arrested in the wake of the Zundelhaus arson on May 7, 1995, followed by a parcel bomb sent ten days later. I can only tell you that the story keeps simmering, with a small flame shooting up now and then to indicate that there is heat beneath the ashes and that it hasn't been extinguished, despite all efforts, official and otherwise.
The Free Speech Monitor, October 2000, had this little write-up that might be of interest to you:
Title: Accused Terrorists' Charges Stayed
The following story is of serious concern. The accused anarchists were implicated in sending package bombs and booby-strapped razor blades to a number of political activists, including Toronto publisher Ernst Zündel and the Mackenzie Institute.
Now, for entirely mysterious reasons, the charges are stayed.
Halting life-threatening intimidation of political activists would not seem to be a major priority with law enforcement:
"Charges against two B.C. animal rights activists accused of sending letters rigged with razor blades have been stayed after the RCMP would not disclose records about its investigation. David Barbarash, 36, and Darren Thurston, 30, were charged in 1998 after razor blades taped to cards were mailed to hunters and people in the fur industry.
"The charges against the two men were seen as a major break in shutting down animal rights terrorist activity. The police investigation involved 5,300 hours of bagged conversation, video surveillance, several search warrants, and nearly 100 officers, including members from the RCMP's national security investigations service, bomb experts, drug officers and a member of the Air India task force.
"But in the end, the RCMP decided that some of its records were more important than the case against Barbarash and Thurston. Crown counsel Brian Rendell confirmed Monday a decision had been made to stay the charges rather than comply with B.C. Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Lydyk's disclosure order.
The RCMP felt it would be contrary to public interest, Rendell said. "Crown counsel ultimately agreed with their analysis."
"Charges that Barbarash was in possession of a weapon, that Thurston fraudulently impersonated another and that Barbarash and Rebecca Jeanette Rubin, of North Vancouver, were in possession of an explosive substance were also stayed.
***But an RCMP official said Monday a related investigation into the mailing of pipe bombs remains active.*** (Emphasis added)
"That investigation has been continuing since 1995, when pipe bombs armed with batteries and mouse trap triggers were sent to Holocaust denier Ernst Zündel in Toronto, white supremacist Charles Scott in Chilliwack, a cattle-breeding company in Calgary and a right-of-center think tank in Toronto." (Vancouver Sun, September 26, 2000)
File it away - for reference later! It's never over until it is over. Verdad?
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Thought for the Day:
"The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave."
(Patrick Henry)
Back to Table of Contents of the Nov. 2000 ZGrams