Calgary

Sentencing date for final accused in 2022 Coutts blockade to be set in 2 weeks

The last outstanding case tied to the 2022 Coutts, Alta., border blockade is likely to be wrapped up in early March with the sentencing of one of the men convicted.

Alex Van Herk fired his lawyer before he was to be sentenced last month

An aerial view of trucks blocking both sides of the highway.
Anti-COVID mandate demonstrators gather as a truck convoy blocks the highway at the busy U.S. border crossing in Coutts, Alta., in January 2022. A sentencing date for the last of the three men convicted of helping co-ordinate the blockade will be set later this month. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)

The last outstanding case tied to the 2022 Coutts, Alta., border blockade is likely to be wrapped up in early March with the sentencing of one of the men convicted.

Alex Van Herk, who was found guilty of mischief over $5,000 along with Marco Van Huigenbos and Gerhard (George) Janzen, fired his lawyer before he was to be sentenced last month.

Van Huigenbos was handed four months in jail while Janzen received a three-month sentence and an order to complete 100 hours of community service.

Van Herk appeared in Lethbridge Court of King's Bench on Monday, represented by his new lawyer, Darren Mahoney.

Court heard sentencing dates are available in early March and the matter is to come back on Feb. 24 to set the actual date.

The three were convicted for their part in the blockade, which tied up cross-border traffic with the United States for two weeks to protest COVID-19 pandemic rules and vaccine mandates.