a1562: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL : Haiti: No justice for Jean Dominique, no real rule of law (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

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

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Latest Press Releases
 Haiti: No justice for Jean Dominique, no real rule of law
AI Index: AMR 36/004/2002
Publish date: 02/04/2002

Two years after journalist Jean Dominique and radio station guard Jean
Claude Louissaint were shot dead, Haitian authorities must take concrete
action to bring those responsible to justice, Amnesty International said in
a report published today.

"If those responsible for these killings are not identified and tried in a
prompt, impartial and transparent fashion, Haiti's aspirations to the rule
of law will be irreparably damaged," the organization declared.

Targeted killings of journalists, regardless of their political beliefs or
personal histories, have a far-reaching detrimental impact within any
society. The fact that Jean Dominique, fierce critic of successive regimes
over a period of 40 years, was killed under a democratically-elected
government, made the deaths all the more disturbing.

"The investigation has been hampered by obstacle after obstacle, in effect
denying the families of Jean Dominique and Jean Claude Louissaint, and
Haitian society as a whole, the right to know the truth, and to see those
responsible held to account," Amnesty International said.

The obstacles to the investigation have included lack of independence of the
police force and the judiciary; the failure of those institutions to
confront ruling party activists who flout the law; violence by armed groups
acting under the auspices of elected officials; repression of freedom of
speech and targeted threats and attacks on journalists.

"These obstacles are symptomatic of the primary human rights concerns in
Haiti today," Amnesty International stressed. "Their cumulative outcome has
been total impunity for those responsible for the deaths of Jean Dominique
and Jean Claude Louissaint."

"Full and impartial justice for Jean Dominique and Jean Claude Louissaint
will demonstrate, not only the authorities' commitment to justice for those
two individuals, but their willingness to confront head on the most
problematic and entrenched hindrances to the respect for human rights in
Haiti," Amnesty International continued.

"Failure to do so, on the other hand, will do irretrievable harm to the
aspirations of those Haitians committed to an end to impunity and the
establishment of genuine rule of law," the organization concluded.