Canadian YouTuber Christopher “Chris Must List” Hughes will have his passport returned.
However, he still cannot leave Trinidad and Tobago just yet.
When he appeared before Justice Indrani Cedeno on September 13. he received a variation to his bail conditions and was told that he will have his passport returned to him.
The judge also permitted him to appear virtually for his next court hearing in January.
However, he is not yet free to leave Trinidad and Tobago, as he first has to receive the permission of the Chief Immigration Officer (CIO) to do so. If he is denied, he will again have to approach the High Court for permission to travel.
Hughes, who is on $100,000 bail on his sedition charge, is required to apply to the High Court for permission to travel.
He is currently before acting Chief Magistrate Christine Charles on a single sedition charge which alleges that on May 9, he published a seditious publication (an audio-visual video) on the social media platform YouTube.
Hughes was first arrested in May and then charged. He returned to Canada and returned for his case in late August. On September 5, he was again arrested, for allegedly having evidence of money laundering, based on a video he published.
He was arrested for a third time on September 7, and detained for deportation. However, his attorneys approached the High Court to challenge his deportation and detention by Immigration, and on September 9, attorneys for the Minister of National Security gave an undertaking not to deport Hughes until his lawsuit was heard and determined and to release him. He walked out of the Immigration Detention Centre in Aripo later that night and appeared for his order of supervision at the Immigration Division the next day.
The supervision order prevents him from leaving TT without the CIO’s permission and also dictates he has to report to the division in ten days.