Montreal news outlet La Presse says a hit man offered $100,000 to have one of its crime reporters assassinated.
La Presse says convicted killer Frédérick Silva, who turned police informant in 2022, confessed to issuing the contract in 2021 on investigative reporter Daniel Renaud, but the hit was never carried out.
Quebec Premier François Legault denounced the plot against Renaud, saying today “it doesn’t make sense” that in Quebec a journalist would be targeted for death for doing his job.
Éric-Pierre Champagne, president of Quebec’s professional journalists association, says he was shaken by the revelations.
He recalled the attempted assassination of journalist Michel Auger, who was shot multiple times in the back in the parking lot of the Journal de Montréal in 2000 — which put enormous pressure on organized crime.
The offices of La Presse are shown in Montreal, Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
Champagne says Quebec’s journalist community mistakenly believed hits on reporters were a thing of the past.
La Presse said today it learned of the contract against Renaud after reviewing the confession the killer made to police.
At the time the contract was issued, Renaud was covering the trial of Silva, who was charged with three murders and one attempted murder.
La Presse says the bounty was active for two months before Silva, who is serving a life sentence in prison, cancelled the hit to focus on “more important issues.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 29, 2024.