One of the three Quebecers spectacularly arrested in Peru in February 2023 has been freed from the drug trafficking charge against him in this South American country.
Bô-Soleil Morin Lachance, aged 28, will soon be able to return to the country, because the Peruvian public prosecutor asked the court to withdraw the charge of aggravated trafficking which targeted him on August 2.
Morin Lachance, a resident of the Lotbinière region in Chaudière-Appalaches, was released in the fall of 2023 after spending several months in a Peruvian prison with difficult detention conditions. However, he was forbidden from leaving Peru, as he was still accused.
Contacted in Peru by our Bureau of Investigation, the young man affirms that even if the accusation has been withdrawn, this story still causes him a lot of trouble.
“I’m trying to find clients,” says the person who works in digital entrepreneurship. When employers do research on me, they see that I was arrested,” he laments.
A publication by Bô-Soleil Morin on his page
Image taken from Bô-Soleil Morin’s Twitter account
His mother relieved
His mother, Annick Gagnon-Lachance, is relieved by the turn of events, which cost her tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees. She has difficulty understanding why the Canadian embassy in Lima is unable to issue a new passport to her son so that he can return to Quebec as quickly as possible.
Small consolation: the bail, equivalent to $7,300 Canadian, that Morin Lachance paid last year when he was released in Peru must be reimbursed to him.
“He spent a lot of time in a maximum security penitentiary for a man who was cleared of all charges,” his lawyer, Mr.e Marc-Antoine Rock, reached by telephone.
Thin evidence
In fall 2023, a team from the show J.Ebroadcast on TVA, went to Peru and was able to consult the evidence collected by the Peruvian police.
Nothing linked Morin Lachance to the importation of drugs into Canada, the preparation of a shipment or any payment. The police had the testimony of an informer as well as a photo showing him in the company of the two other Quebecers arrested, Férédic Dewald and Francis Toupin-Bergevin.
Screenshot
These last two are not yet out of the woods. Dewald is still imprisoned in Peru, while Toupin-Bergevin was able to regain his freedom, but cannot leave the country because the charges against him are upheld, according to a report from The Press published in mid-September.
During the arrest of the trio in South America, Peruvian authorities released images showing the three men standing handcuffed, kneeling, in front of heavily armed police.
Note that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) also investigated Morin Lachance, Toupin-Bergevin and Dewald and collaborated with the Peruvian police, but no charges have been filed in Canada to date.
– With the collaboration of Maude Boutet
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