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Alberta judge denies bail for third suspect in Coutts border blockade

Anti-mandate demonstrators gather as a truck convoy blocks the highway at the busy U.S. border crossing in Coutts, Alta., Monday, Jan. 31, 2022. One of four men charged with conspiracy to commit murder at a border blockade protest in southern Alberta has run into a roadblock in his desire to set an early trial date. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

A judge has denied bail for a third man charged with conspiracy to commit murder at a border blockade earlier this year in southern Alberta.

Anthony Olienick appeared by video Thursday in Court of Queen’s Bench in Lethbridge, Alta., to hear the decision after a hearing last month.

Reasons for the ruling are protected by a publication ban.

Olienick, Chris Carbert, Christopher Lysak and Jerry Morin are accused of conspiring to kill police officers at a blockade near Coutts, Alta., in protest of COVID-19 vaccine mandates and other pandemic restrictions.

Morin’s bail hearing, the only one that hasn’t been heard, is scheduled for June 24.

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The Crown has already indicated it plans to try the four men together.

Click to play video: 'Trucker protests: Coutts blockade dismantled in Alberta, allowing border operations to resume'
Trucker protests: Coutts blockade dismantled in Alberta, allowing border operations to resume

The protest near Coutts began in late January and lasted for almost three weeks.

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Fourteen people were charged in February after RCMP found a cache of long guns, handguns, body armour, large amounts of ammunition and high-capacity magazines in three trailers.

Police allege a group at the protest was willing to use force if the blockade was disrupted and have described the threat as “very serious.”

Click to play video: 'Weapons and ammunition seized at border blockade in Coutts, Alberta'
Weapons and ammunition seized at border blockade in Coutts, Alberta

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