The trial later this year for three ex-railway employees charged criminally in the Lac-Mégantic train disaster will be heard by a bilingual jury in another town.
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A spokesman for the Crown says Quebec Superior Court Justice Gaetan Dumas ruled on the venue and language on Monday as lawyers argue several motions on the case this week.
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The July 2013 disaster killed 47 people in the small Quebec town and forced thousands from their homes as fire from a derailed train engulfed and destroyed most of the downtown core.
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Three ex-railway employees – train driver Thomas Harding, railway traffic controller Richard Labrie and Jean Demaitre, the manager of train operations – have pleaded not guilty to 47 counts of criminal negligence causing death.
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Their bilingual trial is to be held in Sherbrooke instead of Lac-Mégantic and is set to last from Sept. 11 to Dec. 21.
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Conviction on a charge of criminal negligence causing death carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
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