By AFPMore by this AuthorMONTREALTwo men, including one who has 25 wives and 146 children, have been convicted of polygamy in a landmark ruling that upheld Canada's longstanding ban on the practice. Winston Blackmore and James Marion Oler, who has five wives, face up to five years in prison after being found guilty in the first real test of the country's polygamy law, enacted 127 years ago. Three special prosecutors had been appointed over the past two decades to consider bringing charges against the pair, but they backed down over concerns that the law prohibiting polygamy violated Canadians' constitutional right to religious freedom. Judge Sheri Ann Donegan of the British Columbia Supreme Court noted in her ruling that the main defendant, Blackmore, did not deny his polygamy. "His adherence to the practices and beliefs of the FLDS is not in dispute," she said.

Source: Daily Nation July 25, 2017 05:26 UTC