Jury deciding fate of B.C. animal rights activists after hog farm protest

The Abbotsford, B.C., courthouse is seen on Friday, July 8, 2022. (Pete Cline / CTV News Vancouver)

ABBOTSFORD, B.C. -

A jury has begun deliberations in the criminal trial against three animal rights activists charged after a protest at an Abbotsford pig farm.

Heading into court, Amy Soranno, Roy Sasano and Nick Schafer said they were feeling “confident” and “optimistic.”

Soranno and Schafer are facing charges of break-and-enter and mischief. Sasano faces only a single  mischief charge.

“We shouldn’t be found guilty because the evidence doesn’t meet the threshold for the charges,” said Sasano.

The trial against them began about two weeks ago.

In 2019, they were arrested after a protest at the Excelsior Hog Farm in Abbotsford.

The protest was sparked by the release of a disturbing video by animal rights group PETA. The video showed dead piglets as well as the corpse of a larger pig. PETA claimed the images were captured at the farm.

The Crown had alleged the pig barn was entered to install secret video cameras which were found on devices seized after the protest. But defence told CTV News that the judge withdrew charges linked to the cameras.

“The charges that they’re facing now are substantially different than what they were facing at the beginning of the trial,” said Soranno’s lawyer, Leo Salloum of Grill Barristers.

“There’s no denying that we were in the building,” said Schafer. “If there was a law broken, the law was trespass. As my lawyer pointed out, the reason we were in the building was nothing more than an information gathering endeavour."

“Our lawyers have done an incredible job in proving no mischief actually occurred, so now it’s up to the jury to decide if that’s true,” said Soranno.

The SPCA reviewed the PETA video, but did not recommend charges against the farm.