Montreal lawyer and political podcaster David Freiheit now lives in Florida. His social media name is Viva Frei.
The Coutts 4
Terrorists or political prisoners? Here’s the background. You make the call
James Pascual
Farmers Forum
Not many know of the Coutts Four. But they should. They are four Alberta men who were locked in prison for two years, including in solitary confinement, without a trial.
We were told the four were armed and dangerous terrorists planning to take out RCMP officers during the Freedom Convoy protest two years ago at the Alberta-Montana border crossing near Coutts, Alberta. The four were arrested, jailed and denied bail. They were one of the reasons why it was necessary to invoke martial law on Canadians by invoking the Emergencies Act to suspend civil liberties and freeze bank accounts.
But after a judge in late January ruled that the federal Emergencies Act was unlawfully used, two of the men were released after agreeing to plead guilty on unrelated and much less serious gun violations. At about the same time, Canada’s Attorney General David Lametti announced he was quitting and deleted his Twitter account. At least four lawsuits have now been filed against the federal government based on unlawful use of the Emergencies Act.
Canadian lawyer and podcaster David “Viva Frei” Freiheit blasted the charges against the Coutts 4. “This is a full capitulation by the Crown that the original charges were absolute bull crap,” he said.
An incensed Frei also posted on X (formerly Twitter) that the capitulation is evidence of gross injustice and “confirmation of malicious prosecution and two years of inhumane torture.”
Why? Because we were told the four men were dangerous terrorists. What happened to the charges of conspiring to kill police officers? They fell apart and since this is Canada, where gun laws are ridiculously severe, you can go to jail for improperly storing your gun or transporting a gun and forgetting to take with you the proper paper work. So, the process became the punishment for the two men released on time served and who are now appearing to look a lot like they were political prisoners. Embarrass or criticize the government and you could get solitary confinement and wait more than two years for trial. Yet, violent repeat offenders are routinely freed on bail.
In early February, one of the men, Christopher Lysak, 50, agreed to plead guilty to the charge of possession of a weapon in an unauthorized place. His lawyer, Daniel Song, said that Lysak did not attend the Coutts protest and the gun found by police in his trailer is registered and authorized. The lawyer added that possession charge was not in the original charges.
The other released man, Jerry Morin, 42, pleaded guilty to the lesser crime of conspiracy to traffic firearms. His lawyer, Greg Dunn, said in a statement that “the charge that Mr. Morin pled guilty to does not suggest that Mr. Morin at any time took firearms into Coutts, only that he agreed to.” Morin said he was arrested on his way to work one morning and spent about 70 days in solitary confinement.
The other two men are Anthony Olienick, 41 and Chris Carbert, 46.
Police found firearms, 36,000 rounds of ammunition (which could mean about 72 boxes of ammunition, not surprising, considering the inflationary price on ammo) and industrial explosives at Olienick’s home. But according to friends and family, the guns were legally obtained, the ammunition is the kind commonly used in rural Alberta to shoot gophers, and Olienick’s property sits on a gravel mine. He and his father use the explosives to mine gravel.
Less is known about Chris Carbert, a father to two children. His brother and father died while he was in prison. He leads a bible study group in the Lethbridge Correctional Centre. In his only interview with a reporter in the summer of 2023, he said he wishes to ask the prosecution one question: “Where’s your evidence?”
The evidence against the Coutts Four is pretty slim. Here is one example that was blown out of proportion in the mainstream news media and by Liberal MPs in the House of Commons. The four men were at a bbq, where they each met podcaster James MacKenzie, a mid-30s father of three young children and a former Canadian soldier from Nova Scotia. The argument is that MacKenzie is the leader of Diagolon, a racist group with plans to overthrow the government. Unfortunately for these accusers, MacKenzie made up the name Diagolon as a comedy routine that is peppered into his podcast that criticizes government over-reach. For a joke and to poke fun at a group that called him and his audience a militia, MacKenzie and others wore skull masks over their heads and held up guns for a photo that he posted on his Instragram page, with the tagline: “I guess we’re a militia now.”
The militia rumour started when MacKenzie encouraged his listeners across Canada to get together for coffee and talk to get a happy boost from the pandemic. The police confiscated MacKenzie’s legally authorized rifles and charged him with seven gun possession charges and criminal harassment. Liberal MPs repeatedly denounced Diagolon in the House of Commons as a serious threat but all serious charges against MacKenzie were later dropped. The Coutts Four were demonized for having met a guy with a quirky sense of humour, a podcast, and most importantly, an intense dislike of the current government.
Olienick and Carbert are now set to stand trial by jury starting May 27. Canadians should watch these cases closely. No matter what happens with Olienick and Carbert, the Liberal government has some explaining to do. The other two men have already spent two years in jail on bogus charges.
We should worry that, in Canada, exercising free speech can now get you tossed in the slammer but that’s not all. It comes with a hate campaign based on what’s fed to the compliant mainstream media.
