LETHBRIDGE, Alberta (LifeSiteNews) – Canadian Christian Pastor Artur Pawlowski will stay jailed for the time being after a provincial court judge delayed her ruling from the preacher’s second bail hearing until Friday.
Pawlowski has been behind bars since February 8. His court proceedings began Tuesday and went into Wednesday.
Pawlowski’s lawyer informed those covering the case that the Alberta court judge placed a publication ban on the day’s court proceedings, meaning the full details of what transpired cannot be published.
As reported by Rebel News reporter Sheila Gunn Reid on Wednesday, “Court is done. Sarah Miller and Chad Haggerty argued valiantly for Pastor Art. The judge is reserving her decision until Friday at 2 so Art will stay in jail until then, maybe longer. Wish I could tell you more, but there is a publication ban in place.”
Gunn Reid wrote earlier on Twitter regarding the publication ban, “Not sure how a publication ban would work in a case where there is so much — two years of legal history — in the public discourse, including many documents and judgments widely published on Rebel News and on social media.”
“There are no minor victims. This is not a gangland-style mafia case. This is not a case of sex offences. This is a case where a pastor has been in jail for 44 days for giving a sermon to truckers at a border blockade (where he called for peace several times). Why the pub ban,” tweeted Gunn Reid.
The Alberta judge is expected to give her decision on Pawlowski tomorrow afternoon.
Last month, a provincial judge denied Pawlowski bail, claiming he was a threat to “public safety” because he refuses to comply with COVID health rules. As a result, Pawlowski has been behind bars at the Calgary Remand Centre since.
Pawlowski was arrested for the fifth time on February 8 by an undercover SWAT team just before he was slated to speak at a peaceful Freedom Trucker protest at the Alberta-U.S. border near Coutts, Alberta.
In February, Pawlowski traveled to the Alberta-U.S. border in Coutts and gave a sermon to truckers blockading the highway, telling them peacefully to “hold the line.”
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney claimed that Pawlowski was detained “by the police because of multiple breaches of terms of release court orders, as well as an incitement to an alleged incitement to violence at the Coutts border crossing blockade.”
However, Pawlowski’s son Nathaniel called this a lie.
“This statement is completely false and in fact misinformation. Actually, Artur is detained and charged with mischief over $5,000, aiding and abetting the blocking of critical infrastructure under the Critical Defense Critical Infrastructure Defense Act, and allegedly breaching a bail condition for quote, ‘not keeping the peace,’” Nathaniel said.
“He’s not detained for multiple breaches and our court orders. He’s being charged for exercising his free speech, free speech and vocally opposing your tyranny.”
Pawlowski’s supporters have been holding daily prayer vigils in support of the preacher outside the Calgary jail where he is being held, demanding his immediate release. They have said they will gather outside every day until he is released.
Besides Pawlowski, two other Alberta pastors were arrested last year for going against COVID rules limiting church attendance size.
Calgary Pastor Tim Stephens was arrested on June 15, 2021, and hauled away by police with his weeping children looking on, all because he held an outdoor church service contrary to COVID rules.
Alberta Pastor James Coates of Grace Life Church spent 35 days in jail in 2021 for defying COVID-19 rules because he would not sign a bail agreement to stop pastoring his church.
His church was closed down and barricaded by government officials for months.
Pawlowski and his brother, Dawid, made international headlines after they were arrested in a highway takedown in May 2021 for holding worship services contrary to Alberta’s COVID rules affecting church service capacity limits.
Both spent a total of three nights in solitary confinement.
Kenney lifted a province-wide mask mandate at the start of March, after earlier ditching the COVID vaccine passport amid the trucker Freedom Convoy and border protests in Alberta.