All morning at the National Assembly, the opposition demanded answers.
“It’s a mess,” said Parti Quebecois leader Pauline Marois.
She said she’s angry that Quebecers watched criminals walk out of jail.
Her comments came Wednesday as politicians reacted to the news that 31 presumed Hell’s Angels were released from prison.
The move came when a judge ruled Quebec’s justice system was too clogged to handle their cases.
Premier Jean Charest said he had faith in the justice system and the justice minister.
“The justice minister has the complete confidence of the government,” Charest said.
But justice critic Veronique Hivon doesn’t have faith in the system.
The judge in the case blamed a lack of organization within the ministry as the reason presumed criminals were freed.
“The reason these people were released was because there were not enough rooms, not enough judges,” Hivon said.
Justice Minister Jean-Marc Fournier says he’s disappointed with the judge’s decision.
Fournier insists there were enough judges and rooms for the SharQc mega-trials.
Still, to avoid the same problem from happening in the future, he admits things will have to change.
“We will need more rooms and more judges because we’re looking ahead and see the future,” Fournier said. “But I want to be clear in this case we were there.”
The opposition says an appeal could take years.
“What is clear today is that they’re free and they’re presumed connected to the Hells Angels, so they can return to what they’re doing before they were out in jail,” Hivon said.
Even if an appeal is won-the justice minister couldn’t say whether the 31 people who were released will ever face justice.
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