4 men charged for allegedly posting court recordings under publication ban to Instagram
CBC
Four men have been arrested and charged after allegedly posting recordings of online court proceedings to high-profile Instagram accounts, police say.
In a news release Monday, Toronto police said two Brampton men and two Toronto men were arrested on Nov. 4 after officers executed search warrants at addresses where the posts were allegedly made.
Police said on Feb. 23, Instagram accounts by the name of "thehood6ix" and "thewarinda6ix" — which have about 21,000 and 3,000 followers, respectively — posted images of a witness who had been testifying during a preliminary hearing being held via remote video conference, despite an order in effect by Justice David Porter restricting the publication of evidence heard at that hearing.
A day after, both accounts along with "straighouttathe6ixtv" and "keep6ixsolid" — which together have nearly 400,000 followers — allegedly posted an audio recording of the same witness from the same remote video hearing.
"These actions served to obstruct the course of justice and intimidate a justice system participant," the release notes.
A 20-year-old and a 32-year-old from Brampton were charged with with intimidation of a justice system participant, obstruction of justice and failure to comply with Section 539(1) Order.
A 24-year-old and a 30-year-old from Toronto are also facing the same charges.
The four men are scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 14.
Intelligence regarding foreign interference sometimes didn't make it to the prime minister's desk in 2021 because Canada's spy agency and the prime minister's national security adviser didn't always see eye to eye on the nature of the threat, according to a recent report from one of Canada's intelligence watchdogs.