Quebec judge won’t allow release of mosque-shooting videos

QUEBEC — Video footage from the night of the deadly mosque shooting in Quebec City last year will not be made public, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Superior Court Justice Francois Huot nixed the request by various media outlets, saying releasing the video would undermine the administration of justice and is not in the public interest.

“The public doesn’t need to see the images to understand the scale of the crimes committed,” he told a Quebec City courtroom.

The footage is related to Alexandre Bissonnette’s slaying of six men at the mosque in January 2017.

Huot did allow media, however, to describe the content of the videos.

Mosque president Boufeldja Benabdallah said he was relieved by Huot’s decision.

“There is something in a description, but ... the impact of an image is engraved in the memory,” he said, adding he would leave the courtroom if the footage was played.

“A story, you read it and you forget about it.”

A woman whose husband was killed in the attack on Jan. 29, 2017, also praised the decision, calling it a “good start” that would ensure her children would not see the images from the tragedy.

The Crown had also argued that releasing the video could traumatize victims of the attack or incite other people to commit violence.

The lawyer representing the media consortium, which included The Canadian Press, said his clients were merely seeking to fulfil their role as providers of information and that they would not have shown any “raw violence.”

As sentencing arguments began later Wednesday, Huot suggested to the victims’ families that they leave the courtroom to avoid viewing the “difficult and brutal” footage.

“In my opinion, this will bring you very little in the healing process that you have started,” he told the court.

Bissonnette, 28, pleaded guilty in March to six charges of firstdegree murder and six of attempted murder.

He can face consecutive sentences, which could mean up to 150 years in prison.

However, his lawyers argue he should be eligible for parole in 25 years.

They say 150 years in prison is equivalent to sentencing Bissonnette to death by incarceration.

Bissonnette killed six worshippers: Mamadou Tanou Barry, 42; Abdelkrim Hassane, 41; Khaled Belkacemi, 60; Aboubaker Thabti, 44; Azzeddine Soufiane, 57; and Ibrahima Barry, 39.