Canada’s right-wing hate fringe is celebrating victory in a high-profile Winnipeg court case involving three members of the Ku Klux Klan.
Prosecutors on Tuesday decided to drop charges against the three defendants: William Harcus, 21; Theron Skryba, 25; and Joseph Lock-hart, 28.
They were cleared of various charges, including advocating genocide, promoting hatred and violation of firearms laws, after an undercover police officer admitted that her notes on the suspects were based on wiretap recordings, and not her memory.
The three Klan militants were arrested in December, at which time Winnipeg police called a news conference to display seized material. It included drawings of Adolf Hitler and Carney Milton Nerland, the Saskatchewan leader of the Church of Jesus Christ-Aryan Nations.
Harcus still must appear before a Canadian Human Rights Commission tribunal in December on a complaint that a telephone hot line he allegedly set up broadcast racist messages against Jews and Indians.
American Klan members have been trying to establish a presence in Canada in recent years.
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