A military reservist has been charged after he allegedly asked soldiers to disobey orders to distribute the “killer vaccine” for COVID-19 during a speech at a Toronto anti-lockdown rally.
Officer Cadet Ladislas Kenderesi faces charges of “endeavoring to persuade another person to join in a mutiny” and “behaving in a scandalous manner unbecoming of an officer,” the military said.
A member of the Reserve Cadet Instructor Cadre in Borden, Ont., Kenderesi was charged May 12 by the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service, the Canadian Forces said.
The military confirmed the charges were “in relation to a 5 December rally in Toronto. An investigation was initiated shortly thereafter and the individual’s uniform was retrieved in December 2020.”
A GoFundMe page created for his legal defence on May 14 shows a video of Kendeseri saying he was about to learn the results of an investigation he said was launched by the Canadian Forces in December.
The video also shows a man dressed in a military uniform with the nametag Kenderesi taking the stage and speaking into a microphone at a Dec. 5 protest at Toronto’s Dundas Square.
After praising the crowd for telling the government that “freedom and tyranny doesn’t rule over Canadians,” he said the military was working with Ottawa to distribute a “killer vaccine” with unknown side effects.
“For us to take the vaccine, I think it’s criminal,” he said.
“I’m asking military right now, serving, truck drivers, medical, engineers, whatever you are, do not take this unlawful order in distribution of this vaccine,” he said.
He added that his job was to protect Canadians, including from what he called domestic threats.
“I might get in a lot of sh-t for doing this but I don’t care anymore,” he said.
Under Canadian military law, offences related to mutiny carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, while the maximum sentence for scandalous conduct is five years.
Kendeseri was in the Cadet Instructor Cadre, part of the Cadet Organizations Administration and Training Service.
A sub-component of the Reserve Force, the training service is made up of officers and non-commissioned members who “have undertaken as their primary duty the safety, supervision, administration and training of Cadets or Junior Canadian Rangers.”
“The member was not currently active with a cadet corps/squadron, and was therefore on the Cadet Instructor Supplementary Staff (CISS) list with the Regional Cadet Support Unit (Central), which is located at CFB Borden,” a military spokesperson said.
“As for rank, an Officer Cadet is a junior rank which is right before that of second lieutenant.”
Kenderesi remains on the Cadets and Junior Canadian Rangers “non-effective strength list pending the outcome of the charges laid May 12, 2021,” the military said.
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca