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8204: AI Press Release on the Arrest of Prosper Avril (fwd)
From: Max Blanchet <maxblanchet@worldnet.att.net>
From: <pwilhite@amnesty.org>
6 June 2001
AI Index AMR 36/009/2001 - News Service Nr. 98
Haiti: One more step towards the end of impunity
The arrest of former military general Prosper Avril on 26 May could mark a
step forward by the Haitian justice system in its struggle against impunity
for human rights violations, Amnesty International said today.
"The gravity of the human rights violations committed during General
Avril's period in power, from his 1988 coup d'état to his departure in
March 1990, cannot be ignored," the organization continued, acknowledging
the importance of bringing those responsible to justice.
Avril was arrested under a warrant dating from 1996, on charges of
assault, torture and illegal arrest of six Haitian activists in 1989 and
1990. The six men were already awarded damages in a civil case brought
in 1994, in which a United States district court ruled that Avril bore
personal responsibility for their interrogation and torture.
"This is an opportunity for the Haitian justice system to demonstrate,
once again, that it can provide a fair and equitable trial for those
accused of human rights violations," Amnesty International said.
Background
General Avril was chief of presidential security under
President
Jean-Claude Duvalier, until the latter was ousted from power in February
1986. Under Avril's leadership reports of torture and ill-treatment of
political and common-law prisoners were widespread.
Haiti has recently taken important steps against impunity, including
the November 2000 trial of members of the former military and paramilitary
implicated in the 1994 Raboteau massacre. The civilian Haitian National
Police (HNP) replaced the notorious Haitian Armed Forces (Forces Armées
d'HaVti) after it was disbanded in 1995. The first trial of HNP officers
accused of human rights violations took place in 2000 as well, when four
officers were convicted of the extrajudicial execution of eleven young men
in the Carrefour-Feuilles neighbourhood of Port-au-Prince in May 1999.
\ENDS
public document
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