Alleged Porepunkah Shooter Dezi Freeman Is a Self-Proclaimed ‘Sovereign Citizen’. What Does He Believe?

Why are police a target for sovereign citizen violence?

As the tragic events evolve in Porepunkah, northeast Victoria, media outlets have reported the alleged shooter, Dezi Freeman, is known to be a “sovereign citizen”. Sovereign citizens believe they are not subject to the law. This view stems from deeply held anti-government beliefs combined with conspiracy thinking that the government was replaced with a corporation that controls us through our birth certificates, licences, and other identificatio…

Alleged Porepunkah shooter Dezi Freeman is a self-proclaimed ‘sovereign citizen’. What does he believe?

For years, security agencies have warned the sovereign citizen movement, fuelled by pandemic-era lockdowns and online disinformation, was growing in organisation and volatility. Tuesday’s violence in Porepunkah is the latest tragic proof that a fringe belief system, based on legal fallacies and a profound distrust of government, can translate into real-world violence.