Gérald Nicolas, 51, took “specific actions,” including traveling to Haiti to coordinate a group of individuals intent on participating in a coup against established authority, the RCMP said in a news release Thursday. Nicholas faces three charges, including leaving Canada to facilitate terrorist activity, facilitating terrorist activity and providing property for terrorist purposes. The RCMP says the charges stem from an Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET) investigation, which began after sharing information with local police in Lévis, on the south shore of Quebec City. The investigation, which began in July 2021, revealed that Nicolas allegedly planned to stage an armed revolution in Haiti and eventually seize power. Gérald Nicolas faces three counts of terrorism. (Municipality of Saint-Frédéric )
Police say Nicholas recruited people for armed revolution
RCMP Sgt. Charles Poirier said investigators believed Nicholas began hatching his plan as early as January 2020. Sgt. Charles Poirier says Nicolas is not in custody because he is not a threat to Canadians. (CBC) “He actually managed to travel to Haiti and other parts of Central America and South America. He went to a lot of countries there to recruit people to get some funding and also get weapons, which he didn’t do,” Poirier told CBC News. . The RCMP officer said Nicolas is not in custody because he is not considered a threat to Canadians and that this investigation is not related to the July 2021 killing of Jovenel Moïse. The situation in Haiti in 2020 and early 2021, when Nicolas is accused of starting to plot a coup, was full of resentment against Moïse, according to Frantz Voltaire, a Haitian historian, political scientist and community leader. “There were no functioning institutions in the country. There was a lot of discontent,” Voltaire said. Before he was assassinated, Moïse, who came to power after tumultuous elections in 2015 and 2016, had clashed with opponents who argued that his presidency was over. But the announcement of charges against a Quebecer accused of plotting to overthrow the Haitian government shocked Voltaire. “I have never heard of such a case,” he said, adding that he had never heard of Nicolas and that the Lévis man is not prominent in Haiti. “But you know, it often happens that there are groups that conspire against the government.” A person holds a photo of the late Haitian president Jovenel Moïse during his memorial service at the Pantheon National Museum in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 20, 2021. Moïse was assassinated at his home on July 7. (Matias Delacroix/The Associated Press)
The accused denies all the charges
Nicolas, in a conversation with Radio-Canada, denied the accusations, saying he was set up by a woman he met online on the Seeking Arrangement dating site. He acknowledged sending money and traveling to Haiti, but claims it was all for “people in need.” He says the reason he was charged has to do with his Haitian nationality. “If I were white I wouldn’t be talking to you today,” Nicholas said. “The only thing I did is go to Haiti and educate the Haitians to take their future [in their hands].”
“Extremely serious” charges
While the news of these charges may come as a surprise to some, the Haitian diaspora community is large and often feels very strong ties and loyalty to their country, said Harold Isaacs, a freelance journalist in Haiti. “Some people really take things to heart. That said, it doesn’t excuse someone who attempts criminal acts, but it can partially explain why that person would feel compelled to do something,” Isaac said. “Unfortunately this is the situation we live in.” There are still some questions about the accused, including why he is not in police custody, said Michel Juneau-Katsuya, a former senior intelligence officer and director at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. “There is a bit of confusion in the information. Because he says the RCMP arrested someone but now he will be released with [an] category of this nature. We’re not just talking about stealing a bicycle here, we’re talking about terrorist activities,” said Juno-Katsuya, who is a national security expert. “We have charged people under the Criminal Code for terrorist activities, but plotting a coup abroad is, to my knowledge, the first time we have charged someone of this nature… This is extremely serious. If necessary, up to life imprisonment as a penalty.” Nicolas is expected to appear in court in Quebec on December 1.
