a1502: RSF on Jean Dominique (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

Reporters Without Borders (RSF)


PRESS RELEASE

28 March 2002



Two years after the murder of Haitian journalist Jean Dominique, Reporters
Without Borders (RSF) and the Damocles Network deplore the "tradition of
impunity" the Haitian media is a victim of.


On 3 April, it will be two years since Jean Dominique, head of Radio Haiti
Inter, was murdered - two years of obstacles to finding out the truth about
the killing as part of a "tradition of impunity" aimed at stifling the
media and denounced by RSF and the Damocles Network (which fights against
impunity)..
        To spur the Haitian government into action, the two organisations
have launched a radio campaign in Haiti and other countries.  On 3 April, a
message criticising the government's attitude in the case will be broadcast
by about 20 radio stations in Haiti, the United States, Canada and France.

        RSF and the Damocles Network have also made new recommendations to
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, notably urging him to reappoint as the
chief investigator in the affair Judge Claudy Gassant, who was dropped
early this year when his term expired.
        Dominique, Haiti's best-known journalist and political analyst, was
gunned down in the courtyard of his radio station on 3 April 2000, along
with the station's gatekeeper, Jean-Claude Louissant.  The famously
outspoken Dominique criticised former soldiers and Duvalierists, the
country's wealthy families and, not long before his death, those he
suspected inside President Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas (FL) party of wanting
to "turn the party away from its original principles."  In an editorial
broadcast on 19 October 1999, he strongly attacked Dany Toussaint, a
leading FL figure.  Dominique's widow, Michèle Montas, is sure of one
thing, that he husband was murdered because "he couldn't be controlled."
        Despite official assertions, nearly all state institutions have
obstructed the investigation.  The minister of justice has never given
adequate protection to the investigating judge, despite him being
threatened.  The police have refused to execute arrest warrants and are
even suspected of handing over a major suspect in the case, Panel Rénélus,
to an angry crowd who chopped him to death on 9 November last year, soon
after he was arrested.
        Rénélus was the second suspect to die shortly after being picked up
in connection with the case.  In June 2000, Jean-Wilner Lalanne, who is
thought to have been a link-man between those who ordered the killing and
those who carried it out, died in mysterious circumstances during a minor
hospital operation after being arrested.
        Judge Gassant's investigation pointed to Dany Toussaint, elected to
the Senate in May 2000, as the main suspect in the murder, but his fellow
senators obstructed the enquiry on several occasions, notably on 31 January
this year when, after having had the matter under consideration for six
months, they rejected the judge's request to lift Toussaint's parliamentary
immunity, saying the paperwork was "incomplete" and that more information
was needed.  Their decision came a week after that of President Aristide
not to renew the appointment of Gassant, whose seriousness and courage were
recognised by all, and to hand the case over to a group of three other
judges.
        "Grassroots organisations" of FL supporters, confident of not being
punished at all, have stepped up attacks over the past year on journalists
they consider too critical of the government and who they accuse of working
for the opposition.
        About 40 journalists were threatened or physically attacked last
year and 15 more such incidents have been recorded so far this year by the
Association of Haitian Journalists (AJH).  The government has rarely
condemned these attacks.  On the contrary, the lack of any serious
investigation into them shows a clear intent, possibly by top government
officials, to lump the media with the opposition so as to justify the
attacks.
        The growing violence reached a climax last 3 December with the
murder of journalist Brignol Lindor, of the Echo 2000 radio station in
Petit-Goâve (southwest of Port-au-Prince).  A report by the AJH said
members of the pro-FL grassroots organisation Domi Nan Bwa admitted they
killed him, but despite this they have still not been arrested.
        The media situation further deteriorated on 17 December, when there
was an apparent attempted coup d'etat, after which armed supporters of
President Aristide took to the streets and systematically attacked
journalists they considered critical of the government.  The atmosphere of
lawlessness that day made seven radio stations stop broadcasting or suspend
their news programmes and several opposition premises were burned by pro-FL
demonstrators.  With the president failing to disown the actions of his
supporters, about 15 journalists chose to flee into exile abroad for their
own safety.
        To pressure the Haitian government into ending the "tradition of
impunity" the Haitian press is a victim of, RSF and the Damocles Network
have launched a radio campaign against impunity.  A message in French and
Creole criticising the authorities' attitude in the Jean Dominique case
will be broadcast by about 20 radio stations in Haiti, the United States,
Canada and France.
In Haiti, a dozen stations, including the main ones in Port-au-Prince, are
already broadcasting it.  It is a chance for these stations, several of
whose journalists have been attacked or have gone into exile, to show that
the battle against immunity does not just involve the family of Jean
Dominique and Radio Haiti Inter.  A dozen stations or relayed radio
programmes in the Haitian community in the United States and Canada are
also broadcasting the message.  International stations such as Radio France
International and the Voice of America have agreed to carry it too.


Recommendations to the Haitian authorities

RSF and the Damocles Network support the recommendations made to the
Haitian authorities on 21 February by the Echo Voix Jean Dominique
Foundation, which is campaigning for a full enquiry into the journalist's
killing.

Concerning Dominique's murder, RSF and the Damocles Network call for:

-- Reappointment of Judge Claudy Gassant.
-- Execution of arrest warrants issued for Richard "Cha Cha" Salomon (seen
as Dany Toussaint's right-hand man) and Toussaint's bodyguard Franck
Joseph, who have refused to appear before the investigating judge.
-- The lifting of Sen. Toussaint's parliamentary immunity.
-- Revival of the enquiry into the death of Panel Rénélus, which seems to
have been dropped, and the death of Jean-Wilner Lalanne.


The two organisations also ask the Haitian authorities to:

-- Execute warrants issued for the arrest of members of Domi Nan Bwa who
have admitted killing Brignol Lindor.
-- Firmly condemn any attack on press freedom and thoroughly investigate
each incident so as to punish those responsible, whatever their political
affiliation.
-- Begin an operation to confiscate weapons, starting with members of
grassroots organisations.

RSF and the Damocles Network note that on 11 January this year they called
on the European Union and the US Congress to take individual sanctions
against 24 Haitian officials who, by their actions or lack of them, are
obstructing investigation of the murders of Jean Dominique and Brignol
Lindor.  The sanctions requested were refusal of transit or entry visas to
the US and the EU for the 24 officials and their families and the freezing
of any bank accounts they hold outside Haiti.