Criminal charges have been withdrawn against 14 people who were involved in protests at the Muskrat Falls project site more than two years ago.
The Crown said because the same set of circumstances were dealt with through civil proceedings in Supreme Court, trying them again as criminal charges would violate the legal principle that person can’t be tried twice for the same charges, known as “double jeopardy.”
For the most part, the 14 people who had their charges dropped were facing one charge of mischief and one charge of disobeying an order of the court each. In one case a charge of taking a motor vehicle or vessel without consent was also dropped.
Civil contempt proceedings concluded last week, and the judge is expected to rule on those matters sometime this summer.
Other individuals facing criminal charges for their alleged actions at the Muskrat Falls site had their court matters set over to mid-June.
Story courtesy of cbcnews