I WON'T PLEAD GUILTY

CCNTV6

Canadian blogger Christopher Hughes  better known by his YouTube alias "Chris Must List"  says that while he holds a deep appreciation for Trinidad and Tobago and remains committed to promoting it, he feels certain authorities are pressuring him into pleading guilty to charges he insists are unfounded. The charges stem from his May 2024 arrest and subsequent indictment under the country's Sedition Act for publishing a video on social media.  Tv6's Nicole M Romany has more.

Transcript

00:00Canadian blogger Christopher Hughes, widely known as Christmas List, was charged with sedition in May 2024,

00:09following the publication of a video that officials claimed incited public disorder.

00:14He maintains his innocence, insisting his commentary was taken out of context,

00:20and says all he wants now is a fair trial, though he claims he has been barred from re-entering the country to properly defend himself.

00:28How best to put this, you know, even those that want to prosecute me for sedition are dumbfounded to understand how this has happened,

00:39where a man myself that's up against very serious charges is not allowed into the country in which I'm being charged.

00:47So the people that have banned me never spoke to the lawyers that are prosecuting me when putting that ban in place.

00:55So a new judge was given my case over the course of the last couple of weeks,

01:02and even when he stepped in, he was very confused and could not recall the last time that something like this has happened.

01:09Hughes says the drawn-out legal process has been deeply frustrating,

01:14noting that he has made some 30 virtual court appearances over the past year,

01:19with little to no progress in the case.

01:22Each time, he explains, the matter is adjourned to yet another month.

01:27He says he was offered the option to plead guilty in exchange for the charges being dropped,

01:33an offer he considers deeply unfair.

01:36And my thoughts are that they're just dragging this on to exhaustion,

01:41but the courts somehow believe that I'm going to end this abruptly by simply pleading guilty to something I did not commit,

01:50which will not happen.

01:51He also sought to clarify that the legal restriction preventing him from entering the country

01:56is separate from and unrelated to the sedition charge.

02:00It's a different pending case that's before a different judge into me holding a camera.

02:10Well, that's something that I really can't talk much about,

02:13but they're saying that the average person should not be able to hold a camera

02:17and upload to social media without a business visa.

02:21And they said, I came as a tourist,

02:23so tourists should not be able to document their time in Trinidad,

02:27which is a completely separate matter.

02:29But that is the reason that I've been banned from Trinidad.

02:33Hughes remains on $100,000 bail

02:37as he awaits the outcome of the sedition charges fired against him

02:41while continuing to assert his innocence

02:43and challenges the restrictions preventing him from returning to Trinidad and Tobago.

02:50Nicole M. Romany, TV6 News.

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