14531: Hermantin: Haitian ex-officer closer to deportation (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Miami-Herald

Posted on Sat, Jan. 18, 2003

Haitian ex-officer closer to deportation
BY ALFONSO CHARDY
achardy@herald.com

A former Haitian military officer convicted of human rights violations in
his homeland is one step closer to being deported after a federal appeals
court rejected his claim that he faces torture if returned to Haiti.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta on Monday denied Carl
Dorelien's request for a review of his case. Dorelien, a former Haitian army
colonel now detained at a jail near Jacksonville, helped lead a coup against
Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1991. His conviction stems from
a 1994 massacre in which 25 people were killed.

Siding with an immigration judge who originally ordered Dorelien deported in
2001, the appeals court said Dorelien ``failed to demonstrate that it is
more likely than not that he would be subjected to torture if removed to
Haiti.''

The court noted that after Aristide returned to office, Dorelien's wife and
child remained behind for some time and ``never were harmed, arrested or
mistreated.''

The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service said it would move soon to
return Dorelien to Haiti.

Richard Krieger, a human rights activist in Boynton Beach, said lawyers who
have checked on the status of a previously deported Haitian torture suspect,
Jackson Joanis, found no evidence that he has been tortured.

Dorelien's lawyer, Jeffrey A. Devore, said he was studying the ruling to
determine whether it can be appealed, even if it means going to the U.S.
Supreme Court.

Monday's action came as a surprise. Devore had said he did not expect
arguments in the case until the spring.

Ana Santiago, an INS spokeswoman, said the court ruling enables the INS to
deport Dorelien quickly.

''This latest decision clears the way for Dorelien's immediate removal,''
she said. ``He has been found to be in violation of the immigration laws of
this country. He has had his due process in court, and we are now moving
forward to remove him.''

Santiago said it was INS policy not to disclose when a detainee is deported.

Ira Kurzban, an attorney for the Haitian government who has helped prosecute
human rights violators in Haiti, said that when Dorelien is returned home,
he will be ``subject to arrest and criminal trial for gross human rights
violations, including the execution of Haitian citizens.''

He was arrested in June 2001 at his home in Port St. Lucie.







_________________________________________________________________
The new MSN 8 is here: Try it free* for 2 months
http://join.msn.com/?page=dept/dialup