Quebec Judge Dennis Galiatsatos said that Canadians have a “God-given” right to give the middle finger to people who’ve annoyed them.
The quote comes off the heels of a ruling that acquitted a Montreal man of criminal harassment in 2021.
Police originally arrested Neall Epstein in May 2021 for harassment after he gave the middle finger to his neighbour who had threatened him while he operated a power tool, according to the Canadian Press.
Michael Naccache, the neighbour in question, alleged that Epstein had been harassing his family for an extended period of time.
The judge then said that Naccache and his family had tried to use the criminal justice system to his advantage to exact revenge on Epstein for his alleged beratement of Naccache’s family. Judge Galiatsatos also told Naccache that he should be lucky he hadn’t been arrested for issuing threats to Epstein’s family.
The judge concluded by expressing his wishes to “literally” throw the case out of court.
