#5122: Haiti's Supreme Court Justice Dies (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: nozier@tradewind.net

Tuesday September 19 5:38 PM ET
Haiti's Supreme Court Justice Dies 

 PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - Clausel Debrosses, the 85-year-old
chief justice of Haiti's Supreme Court, has died in his sleep.
The exact cause of his death Monday was unknown, and the date of his
funeral has not been announced yet. Minister of Justice Camille Leblanc
 confirmed Debrosses' death on local radio reports Tuesday.
 Three other members of the nine-member court have died in recent years
and have not yet been replaced. Court vice president Pradel Jean will
stand in as chief justice until new court members are chosen, Leblanc
said. Constitutionally, the senate must propose a list of three
candidates to the president, who appoints the justice. As a reward for
his loyalty to constitutional government, former President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide appointed Debrosses, who was already a member of the court, as
chief justice in 1994, after U.S. troops  intervened in Haiti to put an
end to three years of military-backed rule and restore a democratically
 elected government to power.
 In 1998, his strident plea in favor of the reestablishment of the death
penalty, abolished by the 1987 constitution, drew fire from human rights
advocates. In his last important case, Debrosses last year refused to
consider the suit brought by lawmakers against President Rene Preval,
who, in January 1999, had locked them out of Parliament to end an
18-month struggle with the majority
party.