HAVRES-AUX-MAISONS, Que. - Several videotapes showing a tense confrontation during last year's seal hunt off Canada's east coast are expected to be key pieces of evidence in the trial of five people accused of violating the terms of their observer permits.
The trial started Thursday on Isles de la Madeleine with testimony from one federal Fisheries officer, but the proceedings were quickly adjourned Friday.
The Court of Quebec judge hearing the case decided the trial will resume May 6, 2008 for three days after the Crown asked for the adjournment.
The five defendants are representatives of Humane Society International and Humane Society of the United States.
They are charged with coming within 10 metres of seal hunters on March 26, 2006 while filming the annual slaughter in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, not far from Cape Breton.
On Thursday, Fisheries officer Jean Francois Sylvestre told the court the Fisheries Department received a call on March 26 for help from a sealing boat owned by Jeremy Cyr.
Sylvestre said he later watched as two inflatable boats carrying observers approached the local sealer's boat within the 10-metre limit.
The charge under the Marine Mammal Regulations carries a maximum fine of $100,000.
The defendants are Canadians Rebecca Aldworth and Andrew Plumbly; Americans Chad Sisneros and Pierre Grzybowski, and British citizen Mark Glover.
They have all pleaded not guilty.
Clayton Ruby, one of Canada's best-known defence lawyers, is representing the five.
He plans to show the judge videos that he says will prove his clients are innocent.
The Humane Society of the United States issued a statement Friday saying Ruby had planned to present evidence Friday, but the Crown requested the adjournment to review the videos.
"The Crown took a case that was supposed to have two witnesses -- one of them declined to have a bad word to say about us, the other one did his best, but he is pinned down to evidence that I'm in the position to prove simply cannot be true,'' Ruby said in a statement.
"There's videotape from the government ship, there's videotape from an independent reporter, and there's videotape from some of the accused -- all from different angles .... The photographs will show that we are innocent.''
Earlier, federal prosecutors dropped a charge of obstructing the hunt.
The 2006 hunt was marked by high-profile protests by pop music superstar Paul McCartney and retired French actress Brigitte Bardot.
On the ice floes, there were frequent clashes between sealers and protesters opposed to the hunt, which the federal government insists is a humane enterprise that brings much-needed cash to families that supplement their meagre incomes during the winter.
Animal welfare activists say the annual commercial hunt is cruel and provides little economic benefit once government costs associated with policing and supporting the hunt are factored in.
