Perennial political fringe candidate David Popescu is in trouble with the law again.
In a release Thursday, Greater Sudbury Police announced Popescu, 67, is facing charges of advocating or promoting genocide and for willful promotion of hatred.
“An investigation was commenced by the Criminal Investigation Division of the Greater Sudbury Police Service in February of 2015 in relation to several complaints made by citizens who had received offensive materials at various locations throughout Greater Sudbury,” the release said.
“On the second of September 2015, John David Popescu, 67 years of age was arrested by the Greater Sudbury Police Service.”
In an interview Thursday, Insp. John Somerset said the investigation began after an all-candidates debate in Sudbury, when several people complained about hate literature being found on their cars and other places. Charges are being laid now because Ontario's Attorney General's office has to grant permission for police to lay these types of charges, Somerset said, a process that took some time.
According to the Criminal Code of Canada, a conviction of promoting genocide carries with it a maximum jail term of five years.
In the Criminal Code, “genocide” is defined as committing actions “with intent to destroy in whole or in part any identifiable group.” That could mean killing them directly or “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction.”
An identifiable group means any member of the public distinguished by “colour, race, religion, national or ethnic origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, or mental or physical disability.”
A conviction of willfully promoting hatred carries with it a maximum jail term of two years. It covers people who “incite hatred against any identifiable group where such incitement is likely to lead to a breach of the peace.”
This is not the first time Popescu has been in trouble with the law. A candidate in past municipal, provincial and federal elections, he has advocated several extreme positions. A radical Christian, he has targeted the homosexual community in the past.
In a 2008 federal election debate, he called for their “execution,” and as a result was charged in 2009 for willful promotion of hatred. He was convicted and sentenced to 18 months probation.
He was also convicted of assaulting his mother in 2003 over a dispute over where towels should be placed and served time in jail.
He was almost thrown out of a Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce debate during the February byelection in Sudbury for comments about Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, who is gay.
The charges he is facing now stem from an investigation that began during the February campaign. Popescu was scheduled to appear at the Sudbury Courthouse for a bail hearing Thursday.
