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7437: seeking signatories for sign on letter for Justice for Jean Dominique (fwd)
From: Richardsonjb@aol.com
The following letter, which was read over Radio Haiti Inter on March 3 and
circulated to the Haitian press, will be officially delivered to President
Aristide at the beginning of April. If your organization wishes to sign on
to this letter, contact the Foundation to Echo the Voice of Jean Dominique
(Fondasyon Eko Vwa Jean Dominique) ASAP with the following information: a)
full name of the organization, b) contact information for the organization,
and c)name and post of the person authorizing the signature. Send this
information to: <<ekovwajando@yahoo.com>>. If you know others who may wish
to sign, please pass the letter along... However, please note that this sign
on letter is for _organizations_, not individuals. As for non-Haitian
organizations (i.e. solidarity groups, human rights groups, etc.), such
signatures will be accepted and will be put in a second group as solidarity
signatures...
JUSTICE FOR JEAN DOMINIQUE
APRIL 3, 2000 - APRIL 3, 2001
Port-au-Prince, Haiti, March 3, 2001
Open letter to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
We, civil society organizations concerned by the growing climate of
insecurity that has its origins in the arrogant reign of impunity, continue
to demand justice for Jean Dominique and Jean Claude Louissaint, assassinated
on April 3, 2000, in the courtyard of Radio Haiti. Eleven months after this
contracted double murder, light has yet to be shed on this revolting crime.
The questions which were posed eleven months ago are still being posed with
the same acuity. Who carried out the killing? Who put out the contract?
Who had interest in silencing Jean Dominique? Why? These questions
interpellate the Haitian justice system and you , Mr. President, who now
assumes responsibility for the Executive branch. A deep-rooted tradition of
impunity hangs over this justice system, from the murder of Antoine Izmery,
to those of Father Jean Marie Vincent, Father Jean Pierre Louis, Serge
Villard, Jean Marie Montes, Serge Brière or Senator Yvon Toussaint; from the
assassinations of hundreds of victims of FRAPH and the army to those of Jean
Lamy, Chenel Gracien, Ary Bordes or Amos Jeannot, to cite only a few from a
very long list.
Seven months ago, 11,300 members of this civil society signed a petition
addressed to Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis. Thousands of citizens
have protested, week after week across the country, to demand justice for
Jean Dominique, this militant in the struggle against exclusion, impunity and
the arbitrary. This combative journalist, Mr. President, did not fall under
the dictatorships which he had so courageously combated, paying for his
commitment to democracy with imprisonment, the loss of his radio station, and
two stints in exile. He was assassinated at a time when a government whose
efforts for justice and institutional reinforcement he supported promised,
like you, the reign of law and the end of impunity.
It is imperative that this case-heavily handicapped at the outset by fears,
tergiversation and professional incompetence and today by a misunderstood
esprit de corps-be finally solved and that the results of the judicial
investigation be in all transparency put at the disposal of those who, like
ourselves, thirst for justice for too long miserly in producing tangible
results. The events of recent months have once again confirmed that impunity
and insecurity are two sides of the same coin. If justice is not provided
today to Jean Dominique and Jean Claude Louissaint, other irreplaceable
beings will be destroyed by the same assassins or by others. The lives of
our children hang in the balance. If impunity continues to be sown, even
more insecurity will be reaped. If we don't obtain justice, the train of
death will come for us all, one by one. And this country will continue to be
torn to shreds until we say collectively "never again," unless we obtain
justice today.
Mr. President, all of the victims and we, the survivors, have a right to this
justice which will give birth to security. Jean Léopold Dominique and Jean
Claude Louissaint certainly had a right to it.
Article 136 of the Constitution makes you, Mr. President, the guarantor of
stability and the proper functioning of institutions. Article 145 of our
Constitution gives you the responsibility for ensuring the execution of
judicial decisions. All the means at your disposal should be used toward the
pursuit and the resolution of this investigation. Your role is crucial.
Signatories as of March 15, 2001: Foundation to Echo the Voice of Jean
Dominique, Workers Antennae (Antenn Ouvrière), Association of Haitian
Journalists (AJH), National Association of Haitian Jurists, Association of
Friends and Family of Father Ti Jean Pierre-Louis, Center for Free Enterprise
and Democracy (CLED), National Confederation of Haitian Educators (CNEH),
Coordinating Committee of Haitian Unions (COSYNA), Haitian Foundation for
Social and Evangelical Assistance, Jean-Marie Vincent Foundation, September
30 Foundation, Higher Institute for Political and Social Training (ISPOS),
IRATAM, Justice and Peace, KODENA, Peasant's Committee for Clean Elections
(KOZEPEP), National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR), Haitian Platform to
Advocate Alternative Development (PAPDA), Haitian Platform of Human Rights
Organizations (POHDH), Radyo Kominotè N ap Pote Laviktwa (Port au Prince),
Radio Pyramide (St Marc), Radio Sèl Raboto (Gonaives), Secretariat for
Community Support (SAC), Ecumenical Service for Development and Popular
Education (SEDEP), Society for Social Animation and Communication (SAKS),
Heads Together Small Haitian Peasants (Tet Kole).