9610: REPORTER SANS FRONTIERES: The Senate has yet to vote on lifting the parliamentary immunity of Dany Toussaint. (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Robert Benodin <r.benodin@worldnet.att.net>


REPORTER SANS FRONTIERES

Assassination of Journalist Jean Dominique
November 14,2001

Reporters Without Borders and the International Alliance for Justice for
Jean Dominique express their concern that the Senate has yet to vote on
lifting the parliamentary immunity of Dany Toussaint.
In a letter addressed to the President of the Senate, Yvon Neptune,
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the International Alliance for Justice
for Jean Dominique (IAJJD) expressed their strong concern that three months
after a request from the Minister of Justice the Senate has yet to take a
decision on whether to lift the parliamentary immunity of Senator Dany
Toussaint. The two organizations underlined that the parliamentary
commission charged with examining the request only met for the first time
five weeks after the transmission of the request.

The two organizations asked the President of the High Chamber "to take
necessary measures so that the Senate answers the request from the
instructing judge without further delay". " As you yourself confirmed, "this
is in the interest and for the prestige of the Senate as an institution",
indeed this is why we think that the Senate cannot for a moment give the
impression of hiding behind questions of procedure." wrote RSF and the
IAJJD. These organizations expressed to Yvon Neptune their hope that the
Senate would lift Mr Toussaint's parliamentary immunity "quite simply to
allow justice to take its course". "The refusal to lift his parliamentary
immunity would represent a denial of justice and would mean that the senator
would remain a suspect in this case"

According to information received by RSF, on 10 August 2001, the minister
for Justice, Gary Lissade sent the request of the instructing judge Claudy
Gassant to the Senate asking for the removal of Senator Dany Toussaint's
parliamentary immunity. Senator Toussaint is implicated in the inquiry into
the assassination of journalist Jean Dominique, director of Radio Haiti
Inter and Jean-Claude Louissaint, a security guard at the radio station. In
a letter dated 16 August, Yvon Neptune stated to RSF his commitment to see
justice done. "This is in the interest and for the prestige of the Senate as
an institution" stated the president of the Senate. However, Mr Neptune has
on several other occasions declared that the process of lifting
parliamentary immunity, for which there is no precedent in Haiti, will take
time. The parliamentary commission charged with examining this request only
met for the first time on the 17 September, five weeks after the request was
sent.

On the 3 April 2000, Jean Dominique, Haiti's most renowned journalist and
political analyst was killed in the courtyard of the radio station he
directed, Radio Haiti Inter. Well known for his independent voice, Jean
Dominique was critical of former Duvalier officials and soldiers as well as
the bourgeoisie. More recently he criticized those that he suspected at the
heart of Fanmi Lavalas, the party of President Jean Bertrand Aristide of
seeking to "divert the movement away from its principles". In his 19 October
1999 editorial the journalist clearly laid out Mr. Toussaint's ambition. Mr
Toussaint was indicted at the end of May 2001.