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8970: Haitian Officer awaits ruling (fwd)
From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>
Haitian officer awaits ruling
By Mark Fineman
Los Angeles Times
August 27, 2001
MIAMI · A magistrate in Haiti has freed one of the island nation's most
respected police officials from jail and will rule today whether to drop all
charges of coup-plotting and murder against former chief investigator Mario
Andresol.
The deputy commissioner, 40, considered a Haitian-style Frank Serpico by
U.S. officials who trained the Haitian National Police force, left for home
in the capital, Port-au-Prince, on Saturday. That was almost three weeks
after a lower-court judge had ruled his arrest "illegal and arbitrary" and
ordered his immediate release.
Diplomatic observers in Haiti say the case underscores the sorry state of
the 3,000-member police force. It was created by the U.S. Justice Department
with more than $50 million in U.S. funds after Haitian President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide disbanded the country's brutal army.
Those observers say that Aristide, who was returned to power in 1994 by a
U.S. intervention against the military dictatorship that overthrew him, has
been politicizing the police. Observers and Haitian police sources say
independent-minded police officials such as Andresol have been replaced in
key positions by loyalists from Aristide's Lavalas Family party since the
former Roman Catholic priest was elected to a second term in November.
Andresol and his attorney, Osner Fevry, both declined to comment Sunday,
citing an agreement not to speak publicly until Magistrate Josias Agnant
rules today.
Copyright © 2001, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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