Blogger Charles LeBlanc charged with assault

Fredericton blogger Charles LeBlanc will be back in provincial court in February over allegedly assaulting a Fredericton man.

LeBlanc, who is defending himself, appeared in court on Monday and is facing a charge of assault.

The charge was filed the day before the six-month cut-off for charges to be laid.

The alleged assault happened on July 3.

The Miramichi Police Force is handling the investigation due to the strained relationship between the blogger and the Fredericton Police Force.

"I find it ironic that this was filed one day before limitation. The limitation is six months. I totally forgot about this. So this was squeezed through the courts on Jan. 2, one day before the six-month limitation," LeBlanc said.

He was told to send the request to the Crown prosecutor in writing.

He will return to court on Feb. 16.

LeBlanc, who writes a blog on politics and social justice issues, has had repeated run-ins with the Fredericton police.

In 2012, LeBlanc was charged with criminal libel charges for allegedly damaging the reputation of a city police officer in a blog post in the summer of 2011.

But the Office of the Attorney General later said it would not be proceeding with the prosecution because that section had been deemed unconstitutional in other jurisdictions.

The city hired Bernard Richard, former ombudsman, to investigate the city police force’s handling of libel charges.

In 2014, the City of Fredericton said it was behind a complaint that resulted in the blog being shut down.

Chris MacPherson, the city's chief administrative officer, said he asked Google to shut down "charlesotherpersonality.blogspot.ca" because it contained inaccurate and hurtful content about Fredericton police.

The blog was resurrected, however, after an anonymous donor sponsored a new domain name, which has only a minor spelling change in its name.