A crowd of supporters gathered outside the Ontario Court in Canada’s capital as Freedom Convoy organizer Tamara Lich was released from custody on 25,000 Canadian dollar ($19,400) bond after a justice in Ottawa overturned a previous ruling.
Lich had been held in an Ottawa jail since Feb. 17, when she was arrested and charged with counseling to commit mischief for her role in the trucker protests against COVID-19 mandates. She was first denied bail nearly two weeks ago by Ontario Court Justice Julie Bourgeois, claiming Lich presented a substantial risk to “re-offend.”
“She’s happy. Everyone is happy,” Kimberley Ward, an adviser to Lich, told CTV News. “We did it!”
Ward added that the process brought with it a lot of lessons, taking a jab at the Canadian government and judicial system.
“They’ve learned a lot, and they’re going to be different,” Ward said. “They learned a lot for us, for other people, and I don’t think they will be the same anymore.”
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Justice John Johnston issued his decision to overturn Bourgeois’s decision, noting that the initial denial of bail wrongly compared Lich’s charge to the impact of the Freedom Convoy instead of other criminal code offenses, according to TheBlaze.
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Lich was ordered to leave Ottawa within 24 hours and can only return for court dates or to meet with her lawyers. Additionally, she is banned from social media and is forbidden from contacting other Freedom Convoy organizers.
