15245: Blanchet: Fw: Press Release: Three Years Later: The Jean Dominique Case and the State of Human Rights in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Max Blanchet <MaxBlanchet@worldnet.att.net>
From: "Martine Caze" <MCaze@nchr.org>


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Merrie Archer
Director, Human Rights Programs
954-462-8231; marcher@nchr.org



Three Years Later:

The Jean Dominique Case

and the State of Human Rights in Haiti

New York, April 3, 2003 - Today, on the third anniversary of the
assassination of Jean Léopold Dominique and Jean Claude Louissaint, the
National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR) is deeply disturbed by and
denounces the lack of any significant progress on this case. "The
publication of the Judge Bernard Saint Vil's indictment last Saturday, March
22 -- which contains none of the evidence about the authors of the
assassination uncovered in the work of his predecessors -- is an insulting
and dismal end to three years of investigation," said Dina Paul Parks,
NCHR's Executive Director. "What should have been a hallmark case for
restoring faith in the Haitian judicial system has instead become a feeble
and cosmetic attempt at justice. NCHR strongly supports the decision of Jean
Dominique's widow, Michèle Montas, to appeal these findings."

Judge Saint Vil had provided the results of his investigation to the
Port-au-Prince District Attorney's office at the end of January. However, in
spite of a two-month delay, a watered down version of the indictment appears
to have been handed down last week as if to serve as a sign of progress with
respect to the March 30 deadline given to the Haitian government by the
special OAS/CARICOM mission ten days before for creating the conditions of
security and respect for human rights necessary for the preparation of
elections. In keeping with the established court procedures, the indictment
should have been handed down a week after going to the District Attorney's
office.

"The toothless findings of this indictment have dealt a crushing blow to the
struggle to end impunity in Haiti," said Merrie Archer, NCHR's Director of
Human Rights Programs. "It does nothing to answer the real questions about
who ordered this brutal assassination and why. The 33-page indictment did
not reveal any new information but instead re-affirmed the culpability of
several individuals already in custody."

In a comprehensive analysis of the indictment, NCHR Haiti revealed
substantial inconsistencies between the previous official documents
published during the investigation - as well as questions about the
indictment by the DA - and the "final" indictment. Among the most striking
of these inconsistencies, the DA himself asked for additional information to
determine the identity of the intellectual authors of the crime. In
addition, serious accusations had been brought against individuals such as
Senator Dany Toussaint and Willie Lubin, who were acknowledged by the judge
himself to have shed some light on the case and who had implicated others
who are not subject to the law in ordinary courts. None of these details
made it into this document.

These and other inconsistencies are distinct signs of both the
irresponsibility of the judiciary and of its lack of independence from the
government. Of the three judges who have been assigned to the case, two are
currently in exile due to their fears over the revelations of the
investigation. The remaining judge has clearly chosen to avoid a similar
fate by sanitizing his findings and removing any of the controversial
evidence pointing to one or more masterminds behind the assassination. In
addition, no investigation has been initiated regarding the Christmas Day
2002 attempt on the life of Michèle Montas, Director of Radio Haiti
International, nor on the sustained threats that forced RHI to close its
doors at the end of February.

This is one in a series of cases that illustrate the progressive degradation
of the human rights situation in Haiti. Beyond the wave of violence that
accompanied the May 2000 elections and ensuing political impasse, the past
five months in particular have witnessed a dramatic rise in vigorous and
defiant protests against the Haitian government, its politics, and its
policies in areas such as the management of the state university and
hospitals, the manipulation and treatment of members of the judiciary, and
its economic policies and fiscal management. It has also been marred by a
sharp escalation in violence and human rights abuses where impunity is the
order of the day, including extrajudicial killings; arbitrary arrest and
detention; violent reactions to peaceful demonstrations; intimidation of
journalists, human rights activists, members of the political opposition,
the private sector and the judiciary; and the polarization and further
entrenchment of political factions.

These incidents include, among many others, the following, which require
full and impartial investigations:

*

On the early morning of December 8, 2002, three sons of Viola
Robert of Carrefour were kidnapped then found shot, execution style. To
date, although an internal police investigation implicated several police
officers in the case of Robert's sons, no arrests have been made and no
measures have been taken to bring any of the perpetrators to justice;
*

In January 2003, two university students involved in protests
against the governments' policy on education and the state of the country
were killed; and
*

In February 2003, NCHR staff members were threatened on two
separate occasions because of their investigation and work on the cases of
Robert's sons and of the killing of an OP member from Petit Goâve.


NCHR continues to demand that the Aristide government take bold steps to
counter the impunity in Haiti and reign in the politically-motivated
violence that has gripped the country. While the administration cannot do it
alone, it has the primary responsibility for cooperating fully with and
securing the necessary assistance from the international community in order
to bring Haiti out its morass.