16397: (Hermantin)Palm Beach Post-Family fears for Haitian man's life (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Thursday, August 14
Family fears for Haitian man's life


By Will Vash, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Thursday, August 14, 2003



FORT PIERCE -- Olichard Sauveur's signature on a 5-year-old document may be
his death warrant if immigration officials go ahead with a plan to deport
him back to his homeland, family members said Wednesday.

Sauveur, 36, who was arrested Friday in Fort Pierce and accused of torture
in Haiti in the early '90s, did not commit any crimes and was never a member
of the Haitian military under the regime of Gen. Raul Cedras, his family
said.

"My husband did not do anything wrong. He was never in the army," Edith
Sauveur said at her Evergreen Avenue home where her husband was whisked away
Friday just before sunrise by a federal agent.

But Ana Santiago, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, said earlier this week Sauveur committed human rights abuses
during the early 1990s, which included abusing people who were resisting
arrest.

Santiago said Olichard Sauveur "withdrew all request for relief" in front of
a immigration judge in March 2000, making the judges' order of deportation
final. She said the exact date he will return to Haiti will not be
disclosed.

Edith Sauveur said her husband signed a letter in 1997 asking for asylum in
the United States. He paid a man $200 for the letter, which he could not
read because it was in English.

"I believe in Cedras and participated in many raids against Aristide
supporters," the letter said of the bloody 1991 coup.

Edith Sauveur said her husband signed the letter because he trusted the Port
au Prince man who promised to help him get to the United States. Two months
later Olichard Sauveur had the letter translated and realized it was all
untrue.

"My husband simply followed the instructions of this person," she said.

She said her husband, who entered the U.S. in 1997 and migrated to Fort
Pierce to be near family, has tried unsuccessfully ever since to explain the
problem to federal officials.

Olichard and Edith Sauveur met in Fort Pierce and married in December 2001.
She said her husband picked oranges for Treasure Coast Farms in Indian River
County to support them.

Edith Sauveur also said her husband worked in Venezuela as a construction
worker from 1989 to 1997, which would have put him out of the country during
the Cedras regime.

Cedras came to power in 1991 following a coup of then-President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Aristide returned to power with the help of U.S.
troops in 1994.

Denis Sauveur, Olichard Sauveur's brother, said he was worried about his
brother's safety.

"I don't sleep last night. My brother's life," Denis Sauveur said. "The same
day he comes to the airport (in Haiti). The same day he die."

On Wednesday afternoon, more than a dozen members of the Haitian-American
Citizens Club of Fort Pierce protested outside the Sauveur home carrying
"Free Olichard" signs.

"I don't think what happened was right. Everything I heard about him was
good," said Merilor Merilan, director of the club. "I know most of the
people who come out here are looking for peace and a better life."

Olichard Sauveur was being held in the Palm Beach County Jail Wednesday
night.

Edith Sauveur said at least 15 attorneys have turned down her husband's case
since his arrest was reported, but the family is still holding out hope.

"Why should he be punished because he signed what he thought would set him
free," she said.

will_vash@pbpost.com

_________________________________________________________________
Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*.
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail