Gore site owner granted bail in Magnotta case
EDMONTON — The owner of an Edmonton-based “real gore” website that prides itself on graphic real-life images has been granted bail after being charged for allegedly posting a video that shows the murder of student Jun Lin by Luka Magnotta last year.
Mark Marek, 38, made a courtroom appearance by closed-circuit television Thursday morning and was granted $7,500 bail. He was expected to be released later in the day.
Police allege Marek received the video in an email from Magnotta him- self, then posted it online on his Best Gore website, “knowing the video that was sent to him by Luka Magnotta was depicting a real murder.”
Marek has admitted posting the video, court heard.
The contents of the video are banned from publication by a court order. The video was sent to Marek with the title, “1 lunatic 1 ice pick.”
Through a duty counsel lawyer, Marek claimed that he posted the video “in the public interest” in an attempt to verify whether it was indeed real. He posted the video with the message “Is this real? It seems fake,” said lawyer Guy Doyon.
After being contacted by a Min- nesota man who said the video appeared real, Marek contacted police in Ontario, his lawyer said.
“The police, in Mr. Marek’s words, blew him off,” Doyon told court. “He posted this in the public interest. Once it’s even suspected that it’s real, he takes it down.”
Later, Doyon said, Quebec police told Marek to take down the video because it was offensive to Lin’s family.
Prosecutor Julie Roy told court that Marek did not take the video down voluntarily, but was forced to when heavy traffic caused problems with his Best Gore website. He posted a note saying he would put it back up when he could, Roy claimed.
Marek, who is from the former Czechoslovakia, faces a charge of corrupting morals, a rarely used section of Canadian criminal law that deals with the distribution or circulation of “any obscene written matter, picture, model, phonograph record or other thing whatever.”
Shortly after police located Marek early this year, he flew to Hong Kong and investigators lost track of him. Police said Marek is not believed to have known police were searching for him at that time.
Marek was detained by Canadian border officers when he flew back to Canada on July 10, but was not arrested. He then returned to Edmonton.
Staff Sgt. Bill Clark said Marek remained in contact with police by email until investigators asked him to speak with them Tuesday.
Roy said she believed that Marek might try to flee the country after that interview. “He made it very clear to the investigator who conducted the interview that he does not want to stay in Canada.”
Shortly after speaking with police, Roy told court, Marek went to a bank at West Edmonton Mall. When police arrested him, he had $18,000 in cash and his passport. Doyon said that was Marek’s life savings and police have now confiscated the passport. As a condition of his bail, Marek cannot access the Internet.
Marek spoke only briefly during his court appearance, to confirm he did not have a Slovakian passport. When he appeared about to address the content of his Best Gore website, Doyon cut him off.
Roy told court she expects Marek will soon face more charges in connection to his website. He is the sole administrator and controller of the site, Roy said. Police believe the Best Gore website has had 10 million viewers at various times. Marek is scheduled to return to court Aug. 1. He does not have a criminal record.