A religious leader charged with polygamy in Bountiful, B.C., wants a court order instructing the government to drop charges against him unless it is willing to pay his legal costs.

Lawyer Joseph Arvay, acting on behalf of Winston Blackmore, filed a 10-page application in BC Supreme Court Friday.

The application asks that the charge laid in January be set aside.

Blackmore, a sect leader in the southeast B.C. community of Bountiful, is accused of having 19 wives. He openly admits to having numerous wives and dozens of children but has said the community abhors sexual abuse of children.

But if the court declines to stay the charge, Arvay's application says his client will ask again to stay the charge -- unless certain conditions are met.

Those conditions include that the Crown agrees to pay for legal fees for Blackmore to allow him to retain a legal team of counsel of his choice.

The application also asks that the legal fees be paid at the same rates as those paid to the Special Prosecutor appointed in the case.

No date for the court hearing has been set.

In February, B.C.'s Civil Liberties Association called for the Crown to drop the polygamy charges against Blackmore, saying the case against him would fail in court.

The association says it has long been concerned about allegations of child abuse and sexual interference sometimes said to be connected to polygamy, but says going ahead with the court case is ill advised.

Bountiful is located in Creston Valley, near Cranbrook and Creston. The polygamist community lives in a commune-style compound outside of Lister.

More than 800 people reside in Bountiful -- allegedly descended from half a dozen men.

The sect is a breakaway offshoot of the Mormon Church, which renounced polygamy more than a century ago.

However, Blackmore has refused in previous interviews to discuss allegations that teenaged girls in the community marry older men or that others are sent to polygamous groups in the United States.

With files from The Canadian Press