Normandeau tries again to have trial quashed
More than four years after her arrest, former Quebec deputy premier Nathalie Normandeau is once more seeking to have proceedings against her stopped, arguing on Tuesday that the delays in her case are “cruel and inhuman.”
Normandeau and five co-accused were arrested on March 17, 2016, by Quebec’s anticorruption unit (UPAC) for fraud, corruption and breach of trust. Many of those charges have since been dropped, but charges of fraudulent fundraising for a political party, breach of trust and corruption in municipal affairs are still pending.
Normandeau’s co-accused are Bruno Lortie, her former chief of staff; former Quebec Liberal cabinet minister Marc-yvan Côté, who worked for the Roche engineering firm at the time of the alleged offences; former Gaspé mayor François Roussy; and former Roche managers Mario Martel and France Michaud.
Normandeau’s motion is expected to take three days to be heard by Judge André Perrault at the Quebec City courthouse.
For Normandeau to be successful, the defence will have to show that the unreasonable delays in her case were due to the prosecution and not the inherent delays within the justice system or exceptional circumstances.
That could prove to be difficult, because several of the co-accused have filed motions on their own over the course of the trial.
The case was to be heard in March, but was delayed because of the pandemic.
An attempt to argue the same motion in 2018 was rejected, Perrault ruling that the delays were justified because of the complexity of the case.
Normandeau has repeatedly claimed her innocence.