Karla Homolka, who is set to be released from prison as early as Thursday, hopes a court injunction will prevent the media from photographing or contacting her.

The injunction, which will go before a Quebec court Wednesday, also asks the media to avoid asking her family any questions.

Tim Danson, the lawyer representing the families of Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French, was surprised by the possible media ban.

"I think it's unprecedented," he told CTV's Montreal affiliate, CFCF. "The fact that the media might wish to cover this doesn't put her in jeopardy. They'd have to be able to present an argument ... that there was a real case for harm."

Mark Banty, a media lawyer, agrees.

"It's much too draconian," Banty told CTV's Lisa LaFlamme.

"If there is a specific threat, there will be specific measures to protect her, but not something as vast as this that would basically muzzle everyone -- not only the media but also the public."

In an affidavit, Homolka claims that death pools on the Internet and written and verbal death threats are what prompted her request for a media gag.

"I, Karla Teale," she writes under her legally changed name, "have been living in a climate of hate and vengeance for the last 12 years."

"Given the events that happened during my incarceration and the interest surrounding my release, I am convinced that some individuals wish to render a public service by assassinating me."

Jean-Claude Bernheim is a prisoner's rights activist who is worried that media coverage could drive Homolka underground and make things worse for the public.

"If the spotlight is on her she could be more dangerous than if she's in a private situation," Bernheim told CTV News.

Homolka's father, Karel, has said his daughter plans to live in the middle-class district of Nortre-Dame-de-Grace, in Montreal.

Homolka hopes by living in Quebec she might be able to disappear from the public view and avoid harassment.

Experts say Quebecers are more likely to forgive criminals than most Canadians.

A 2004 study by the federal Justice Department showed Quebecers are less likely to see police and prisons as good means for eliminating crime.

"Quebecers have a relatively short memory," Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu, a victim's rights advocate, told Canadian Press.

Homolka said in a psychiatric report she perceives Quebec as a "separate country."

With files from CTV national affairs correspondent Lisa LaFlamme and CFCF's Jennifer Tryon