Georges Schoeters
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George Schoeters (born April 22, 1930 in Anvers, Belgium) was one of the founders and a leader of the Front de libération du Québec terrorist group in 1963.
Schoeters emigrated to Montreal, Canada in 1951 where he signed up for courses at the Université de Montréal and as a left-wing activist, recruited others on campus. An extremist who supported armed revolution, in the late 1950s he went to Algeria for training with the National Liberation Front (FLN). In the early 1960s, he joined the Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale (RIN), a Quebec political organization dedicated to the promotion of Quebec independence from Canada. Through the RIN, Schoeters met Raymond Villeneuve and Gabriel Hudon, left-wing radicals who supported his belief in armed revolution.
An admirer of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, Schoeters made repeated visits to Cuba then in 1962 went to Tunisia where he trained with Palestinian commandos who became part of the Palestine Liberation Organization on its official formation two years later. Returning to Quebec Georges Schoeters, Raymond Villeneuve, and Gabriel Hudon formed the terrorist organization, the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ). The group's declarations called for a Marxist insurrection, the overthrow of the Quebec government, the independence of Quebec from Canada and the establishment of a workers' society. Financed by armed bank robberies, Schoeters and members of his violent FLQ group shot and killed two persons while launching a campaign of repeated bombings that terrorized the city of Montreal and resulted in the death of three innocent bystanders.
While Schoeters was arrested on June 16, 1963 and convicted of terrorist activitivies, the Crown Attorney was unable to gather sufficient evidence to prove him guilty of murder as they did with fellow terrorists, Raymond Villeneuve and Gabriel Hudon. Sentenced to two five-year terms, to run concurrently, Schoeters was released in 1966 after serving less than three years in prison. He immediately left Canada and has since not returned through legal means of entry.
