Terrorism charges were filed Thursday against a 50-year-old man from Levis who allegedly plotted to overthrow the Haitian government of Jovenel Moise.
• Read more: Lewisian Charged with Terrorism: It’s a Surprise in Montreal’s Haitian Community
According to an investigation launched in July 2021 by the Integrated National Security Team of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Gerald Nicholls aimed to lead an armed revolution and seize power in Haiti.
The Service de Police de la Ville de Lévis (SPVL) also provided valuable information about the plot the 51-year-old was planning.
“The latter is said to have taken concrete steps, particularly by traveling to Haiti, to facilitate the formation of a group with the intention of participating in a coup against the established authority,” the RCMP indicated in a news release. .
Former Haitian President Jovenel Moise was assassinated on July 7, 2021, around the same time the trial began. However, the authorities have said that there is no connection between the murder and the investigation.
Gerald Nichols will appear in a Quebec court on Dec. 1. He is expected to face charges of aiding and abetting terrorist activities, providing property for terrorist purposes and leaving Canada to facilitate terrorist activities.
“The RCMP investigates all criminal activity involving Canadians abroad. They expose themselves to charges under the Criminal Code of Canada,” the organization said.
He would have paid
According to the condemnation action received by Newspaper, the facts alleged against Nicholas would have started in April 2020 during the first months of the pandemic. These illegal activities spanned more than a year.
From April 8, 2020 to June 2, 2021, in Quebec, elsewhere in Canada, in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, he “collected or delivered goods, notably money, tents and a generator . Intended that they be used, in whole or in part, for terrorist activity or to facilitate such activity.
Then, on or around April 12, 2021, he allegedly left Canada from Montreal “for the purpose of conducting an activity in Haiti.”
unusual
Contacted by NewspaperThe Service de Police de la Ville de Lévis confirmed that it was the police force behind the investigation, then said it was soon transferred to the RCMP.
Cases of terrorism under SPVL’s jurisdiction are extremely rare. Spokesperson Véronique Blouin explained that since the service is not equipped to carry out this type of investigation, they are formally handed over to a higher authority.
The SPVL did not want to specify the circumstances that led to the initiation of the investigation.
The RCMP encourages citizens to remain vigilant and report any information about terrorism or related suspicious activity to the National Security Line (1-800-420-5805) or their community policing department.
Background
Nicholas has already been in the crosshairs of justice, having been found guilty last August of making an intimate image accessible or publicized in an incongruous and conspiratorial way, according to his file on plumitif.
He is still awaiting sentencing in the case, which is due back in court on November 25.
He would have lived in Quebec for several years, always according to the records of justice. In 2006, he was notably acquitted of assault while living in Gatineau. He was living in Pierrefonds in 1994 when he was fined for breaching the Highway Safety Code.
According to public filings, the 50-year-old owns more than $2 million in real estate assets, including four residences in Levi’s.
As well as owning a residential center for seniors in Armagh, which went bankrupt in 2021, he was the administrator of a seniors’ residence in Saint-Frédéric in Beaux until 2017.
– In collaboration with Pierre-Paul Biron, Dominique Lelièvre, Philippe Langlois and Marie Christine Trottier, Agence QMI
