QUEBEC BIKERS PLEAD NOT GUILTY TO 162 CHARGES IN HIGH-SECURITY COURTROOM

QUEBEC (CP) - Huddled in what looked like the world's largest penalty box,
a group of suspected criminal bikers sat handcuffed behind a Plexiglas cage
Tuesday while their lawyers launched an assault on federal anti-gang
legislation. The tightly guarded courtroom is the setting for a landmark
case involving 13 suspected members of the Hells Angels and a puppet
criminal biker gang.

The defendants pleaded not guilty Tuesday to 162 charges including
drug-trafficking, kidnapping, assault and confinement.

The accused are also among the first Quebecers charged under provisions of
a 1997 federal anti-gang law.

Sporting poker faces, casual clothes and - in most cases - long hair or
thick moustaches, the defendants watched calmly Tuesday as defence lawyer
Louis Belleau argued that the federal law is unconstitutional.

An unrelated trial for eight biker-gang members in Montreal has already
been postponed while defence lawyers wait to see what constitutional
arguments emerge from the Quebec City hearings.

Quebec Superior Court Justice Jean-Claude Beaulieu ordered a publication
ban on details of the proceeding until a jury is selected next month.

The federal law carries a maximum 14-year sentence for people involved in a
criminal organization. It was created to stem the bloody drug war between
the Hells Angels and Rock Machine that has claimed about 150 lives in
Quebec over six years.

About $10,000 has been spent on exceptional security measures for the
trial, expected to begin next month.

Six of the accused were led into the courtroom in handcuffs and seated
behind the two-and-a-half metre cage, made of the same Plexiglas material
used to line penalty boxes and protect spectators at hockey rinks.

The other seven defendants, free on bail, sat in a separate prisoner's dock.

"This is the first time we've used something like this at the Quebec City
courthouse," said Capt. Pierre Gauvreau, a court security official.

He wouldn't elaborate on the precautions.

"You'll see things here and you can judge for yourself what security
measures we've taken.

"I don't care to discuss it."

When the trial begins next month, visitors will be banned from the
courtroom and forced to watch the proceedings outside on a giant-screen TV.

However, spectators were allowed to attend Tuesday's preliminary hearing
after undergoing two security checks while entering the courtroom.

Spectators were searched and reporters were asked to provide business cards
before being allowed inside.

The witness stand has been shifted away from the prisoner areas to
eliminate the possibility of intimidating gestures or glances at witnesses
during testimony.

Of the 13 defendants - men with nicknames like Pyramid, Baptist, Pops and
The Tall - two are alleged members of the Hells Angels while 11 are said to
belong to the affiliate Blatnois gang.

About 350 potential jurors have been summoned to attend a selection hearing
Feb. 19.

Exceptional measures will be taken to hide the identity and whereabouts of
jurors.

Up to 186 witnesses are slated to testify at the trial, which is expected
to last between three and five months.

Tuesday's hearing was delayed an hour when jail guards, seeking a new
collective agreement, stalled before transferring some of the defendants
from neighbouring Orsainville prison.

Police pressed their attacks on bikers on other fronts early Tuesday,
raiding several hangouts of the Hells Angels and Evil Ones gangs, including
the Hells bunker in Lennoxville, Que.

Ten people were arrested on drug and weapons charges.