Karan Brar, Kamalpreet Singh and Karanpreet Singh, three of the 4 people accused of murdering Hardeep Singh Nijjar in 2023, seem in Surrey Provincial Court docket, Canada, on Might 21, 2024, in a courtroom sketch. courtroom. | Picture credit score: Reuters
Three Indian nationals accused of killing Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar final yr appeared in individual for the primary time in a Canadian courtroom on Might 21, and had been ordered by the decide to not have contact with a number of individuals locally.
Karan Brar (22), Kamalpreet Singh (22) and Karanpreet Singh (28) appeared in individual on the British Columbia Provincial Court docket in Surrey and Amandeep Singh (22) appeared through video hyperlink, the Vancouver Solar reported.
The British Columbia decide ordered the 4 to not have contact with a number of individuals locally at their final courtroom look, the report added.
Those that appeared in individual wore purple jail sweatshirts as they entered the courtroom, whereas Amandeep stays in custody in Ontario, the place he confronted unrelated weapons prices earlier than being arrested on Might 10 for Nijjar’s homicide.
Decide Mark Jette spoke to the lads via an interpreter as he imposed the no-contact order, earlier than adjourning the session till the suspects’ subsequent courtroom look on June 25.
Richard Fowler, the lawyer representing Karan Brar, advised the vancouver solar“It’s fully comprehensible, given the context, why there may be huge group curiosity on this case. “That stage of group curiosity compels me… to make sure that these accused of those crimes obtain a good trial.”
“And I’ve little doubt that members of the East Indian group, the broader Canadian group and the worldwide group are equally interested by making certain that there’s a honest trial and that justice is completed.”
These attending the lads’s ultimate listening to had been searched earlier than getting into the courtroom, whereas a protest came about outdoors by supporters of Nijjar and the Sikh separatist motion he championed.
Bailiffs on the listening to positioned individuals’s telephones in plastic zipper luggage and stored them outdoors the courtroom in plastic containers, and the decide warned observers that recording audio and taking pictures was prohibited, the report added. .
A whole lot of native Sikhs carrying Khalistani flags and banners turned up on the courtroom.
Nijjar, 45, was murdered outdoors the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18, 2023.
Ties between India and Canada got here beneath extreme pressure following allegations by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in September final yr of the “potential” involvement of Indian brokers in Nijjar’s homicide.