[slapchoppa]

update:

source

EDMONTON - The owner of an Edmonton-based “real gore” website that prides itself on graphic real-life images has been granted bail after being charged for allegedly posting a video that shows the murder of student Jun Lin by Luka Magnotta last year.

Mark Marek, 38, made a courtroom appearance by closed-circuit television Thursday morning and was granted $7,500 bail. He is expected to be released later in the day.

Police allege Marek received the video in an email from Magnotta himself, then posted it online on his Best Gore website, “knowing the video that was sent to him by Luka Magnotta was depicting a real murder.” Marek has admitted posting the video, court heard.

The contents of that video are banned from publication by a court order. The video was sent to Marek with the title, “1 lunatic 1 ice pick.”

Through a duty counsel lawyer, Marek claimed that he posted the video “in the public interest” in an attempt to verify whether it was indeed real. He posted the video with the message “Is this real? It seems fake,” said lawyer Guy Doyon.

After being contacted by a Minnesota man who said the video appeared real, Marek contacted police in Ontario, his lawyer said.

“The police, in Mr. Marek’s words, blew him off,” Doyon told court. “He posted this in the public interest. Once it’s even suspected that it’s real, he takes it down.”

Later, Doyon said, Quebec police told Marek to take down the video because it was offensive to Lin’s family.

Prosecutor Julie Roy told court that Marek did not take it down voluntarily, but was forced to when heavy traffic caused problems with his Best Gore website. He posted a note saying he would put it back up when he could, Roy claimed.

Marek, who’s from the former Czechoslovakia, faces a charge of corrupting morals, a rarely used section of Canadian criminal law that alleges distribution or circulation of “any obscene written matter, picture, model, phonograph record or other thing whatever.”

Shortly after police located Marek early this year, he flew to Hong Kong and investigators lost him again. Police said Marek is not believed to have known police were searching for him at that time. Marek was then detained by Canadian border officers when he flew back to Canada on July 10, but was not arrested. He then returned to Edmonton, but Clark said he remained in contact with police by email until investigators asked him to speak with them Tuesday.

Roy believed that Marek might try to flee the country after that interview. “He made it very clear to the investigator who conducted the interview that he does not want to stay in Canada.”

Shortly after speaking with police, Roy told court, Marek went to a bank at West Edmonton Mall. When police arrested him, he had $18,000 in cash and his passport. Doyon said that was Marek’s life savings and police have now confiscated the passport. As a condition of his bail, Marek cannot access the Internet.

Marek appeared calm during his court appearance. He spoke only briefly, to confirm he did not have a Slovakian passport. When he appeared about to address the content of his Best Gore website, Doyon cut him off.

Roy told court that she expects Marek will soon face more charges in connection to his website. He is the sole administrator and controller of the site, Roy added.

Magnotta, 30, is currently in custody in Quebec charged with first-degree murder in the death of Lin, a 33-year-old Chinese international student who was killed in Montreal in May 2012. The victim’s severed hands and feet were mailed to political parties and elementary schools, and his torso was found inside a discarded suitcase.

The Magnotta “body parts” case, as it came to be known, made headlines around the globe. Magnotta was arrested in Berlin on June 4, 2012, after an international manhunt. At the time of his arrest, he was reported to have been at an Internet café looking at pornography and reading news stories about himself.

Magnotta is committed to stand trial for first-degree murder in the fall of 2014. He is also facing additional charges of committing an indignity to a dead body, harassing the prime minister, and for obscenity charges under the same section of the Criminal Code under which Marek is now charged.

Police believe the Best Gore website has had 10 million viewers at various times.

A statement posted hours before Marek’s arrest says: “I’ve dedicated my life to fight against Evil and Lies, and I know that God and Truth are on my side. I do not fear the servants of Satan.” He also refers to the ZOG, an anti-Semitic reference to a “Zionist Occupied Government” conspiracy theory.

Marek is scheduled to return to court Aug. 1. He does not have a criminal record.

[Megamel29]

The person in the video isn't Lin, is it? (I don't want to watch the video. )

[Vedderman]

Originally Posted by Arsedestroyer ↗

good. this is a great site and i'd hate to see it taken down

This site is based in the United States. We have certain protections here that Canadians do not, largely centering around issues of free speech and media. Of course, running a site like this is not without its risks (as Chris can certainly attest to) in any country, but as long as certain measures are taken-one of the primary ones being to not try and mix porn and gore together-DR should be fine.

When they put the irons to Mark up north it isn't going to be Magnotta that gets him jammed up. It is more likely to be all of the anti-Semetic hate speech he regularly posts on Bestgore. Unlike the US, they can (and will) jail him for that shit in Canada.

Normally I'd fully support any shock/gore site being left alone by the government, but frankly, bestgore was bad for us all. Mark was crazy as a shithouse rat and extremist crazies draw bad attention to shock sites. He'd somehow envisioned it as his mission to popularize BG and he wanted all the 'sheep' to be exposed to 'its truths.' That sort of attention, especially considering that his website was peppered with hate speech and pornography, is never going to reflect well on the gore community. It just reinforces for the normals the inaccurate stereotype that we're all rabid, hate-filled, crazy necrophiliacs eating our own feces and sitting on piles of dead babies while masturbating to a copy of Mein Kampf.

On a personal level, I hope the government bullies don't hit him too hard as I don't actually think he's a criminal of any sort. But he is a loon and I do believe that his site was bad for gore sites in general, so I won't be sad to see it go if it does indeed get shut down.

[Tiffany32]

Mark Marek AKA: Vincit Omnia Veritas ... talked to him a few times , I don't know about him he's a little too pro Nazi for my liking, but other than that he's an Ok guy I guess .

[bruffed]

I agree with you two above. He posts way too much conspiracy shit that is anti-semetic/racist, but I believe they won't find him guilty on "corrupting morals." He actually posted about the last guy charged with that crime on his site a few months ago. His name is Remy Couture. He was found not guilty. He posted videos depicting gore/necrophilia but were fake. This case is different. I'm pretty certain that he will be found not guilty because he posted it and asked if it was real, and tried to identify the murderer. I believe that will fall under the common good clause or whatever it's called in the "corrupting morals" law.

I like most of the video/picture content of Mark's site, but I don't like the stuff he types. I feel like that's the general consensus of people I know who visit BG. There are those who comment on the site though daily and agree with him. They are living in a conspiracy world. The site they visit is supposed to shine a light on the reality (hey, like this one!), but they are somewhere else.

[ices]

Gotta love the thought police and matters regarding violence being captured on video.

If that is the case then why make cameras? Why put cameras in phones? It is along the same lines due to the ease of use and ways of recording and distributing stuff.

I hate the way the state says what we can and cannot do as adults when it comes down to the internet.

Sure it can create copycats but those people are already fucked in the head to want to copy it, not because sites like this allowed them to view it.

[Sharon]

Originally Posted by Kelly ↗

Doesn't affect us, i already cleared it with Chris after learning about this earlier yesterday.

Good to know!! *phew*

[IC10021]

If that is pic of the BG owner, I am surprized he's so young...he sounds like an old twisted ignoramus in his writings; like an unintelligent jerk with dumb opinions and biases. His writings and opinions (and his porn ads) are what ruin the site!!

[Darkest Angel]

Better quality people & entertainment here. No porn (just links between friends) & few hate messages. Thanks Chris.

[GODREKR]

Originally Posted by IC10021 ↗

If that is pic of the BG owner, I am surprized he's so young...he sounds like an old twisted ignoramus in his writings; like an unintelligent jerk with dumb opinions and biases. His writings and opinions (and his porn ads) are what ruin the site!!