Several animal rights sites reported in March that the Canadian and U.S. governments had dropped all legal efforts against David Barbarash stemming from the July 30, 2002 raid on Barbarash’s home which resulted in the seizure of property belong to Barbarash.
In December a British Columbia Supreme Court Judge quashed the search warrant that the police used in the raid. That warrant turned out to be based solely on a single photocopied newspaper article which the judge ruled did not constitute a sufficient basis for the warrant.
With the warrant thrown out, Canadian and U.S. counsel Matthew Williams had little choice but to file a Notice of Abandonment with the British Columbia Supreme Court on March 17 saying that it was ending its legal proceedings against the former Animal Liberation Front spokesman.
This is the second time in recent years that the Canadian government initiated legal proceedings against Barbarash only to have to embarrassingly withdraw them. Barbarash and fellow activist Darren Thurston were suspects in the mailing of razor blades and threatening letters to fur farmers and scientists.
Police had to drop charges against Thurston and Barbarash in September 2000, however, after the government was unwilling to disclose evidence from a Canadian intelligence agency’s investigation of the duo.
Thurston and Barbarash spent time in jail in 1992 after being convicted of stealing 29 cats from a laboratory at the University of Alberta. Barbarash has bragged in the past about taking part in numerous ALF actions.
Source:
Canadian and U.S. Justice Depts. suffer total defeat in Barbarash case. ArkangelWeb.Org, March 26, 2003.