MONTREAL -- The case of a 72-year-old man charged with promoting hatred towards women will go straight to trial.
Jean-Claude Rochefort was arrested in Dec. 2019 on the thirtieth anniversary of the mass shooting at Ecole Polytechnique that left 14 women dead. Rochefort had written blog posts online declaring his hatred for feminists, including one praising the shooter.
In a court appearance on Monday, the defendant said he wanted to go straight to trial. While he didn't hint at his defence strategy, last year he told a TVA reporter that while he loved women but not feminists and claimed he did not admire Polytechnique murderer Marc Lepine, despite his since-deleted blog entry.
Neither Rochefort's lawyer or the Crown prosecutor were available for comment after the hearing. The trial's date will be set next week.
Rochefort has had previous run-ins with the law. In 2009, he was arrested for making threats against women, again on the anniversary of the shooting. He later pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm and was sentenced to community work.
The previous conviction was originally used to deny bail to Rochefort, but he was eventually released, though under strict conditions, including remaining off the Internet.
