21045: RSF Americas: Haiti : Fourth anniversary of Jean Dominique's murder (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: RSF Americas <ameriques@rsf.org>

HAITI
3 April 2004 : Fourth anniversary of Jean Dominique's murder

Call for new government to make a clean break with impunity

Four years after the murder of journalist Jean Dominique, Reporters Without
Borders has written to Haiti's new prime minister, Gérard Latortue, to ask him
to put an end to impunity in this case.

"The many obstacles in the investigation into the murder of Radio Haïti Inter's
director and its caretaker, Jean-Claude Louissaint, exposed the nature of a
regime which put impunity at the centre of its strategy for silencing its
detractors," Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard said in
his letter. Those who attacked or killed journalists critical of the government
were never punished, he said.

"The time has come to make a clean break with impunity," Ménard continued. "As
Jean Dominique's murder was the one that most marked Haitian society in recent
years, the resolution of this case will be the sign that the Aristide era is
over, that Haitian justice is again beginning to work and that the rule of law
is in the process of being restored," he wrote.

The recent execution of two arrest warrants against suspects was an initial,
hopeful sign, he said, but more remained to be done: the supreme court must
rule on an appeal so that a new investigating judge can be named and the police
must find the defendants who escaped from the national penitentiary.

"As well as the peace and comfort this would bring to Jean Dominique's family,
the end of impunity in this case would be a landmark in the establishment of
real press freedom in Haiti," the letter concluded.

An investigation fraught with pitfalls
Haiti's most famous journalist and political analyst, Dominique was gunned down
in the courtyard of his radio station, Radio Haïti Inter, on 3 April 2000.
Louissaint, the station's caretaker, was killed in the same attack.

Virtually all of the state's institutions helped to obstruct the investigation
for nearly four years: the police failed to execute arrests warrants; two
witnesses died in suspicious circumstances after their arrest; the senate
refused to lift a senator's immunity; President Aristide refused to renew the
mandate of the investigating judge in charge of the case; an attempt was made
to murder Michèle Montas, Dominique's widow; and threats were made against
Radio Haïti Inter forcing it to close.

The investigation concluded on 21 March 2003 when the new investigating judge
issued his final report together with the list of persons indicted for the
murder. Six alleged perpetrators already under arrest were indicted but no
instigator was identified. Both Dominique's widow and the defendants appealed
against the investigating judge's conclusions.

The Port-au-Prince appeal court on 4 August 2003 ordered a new judicial
investigation and the release of three of the six people who had been indicted.
The other three then filed an appeal before the court of cassation (supreme
court). This court has not issued any ruling and the case is paralysed.
Meanwhile, the three defendants who were still in detention have escaped.
Two and half weeks ago, on 14 March, the police arrested former Port-au-Prince
deputy mayor Harold Sévère and Roustide "Douze" Pétion for their presumed
involvement in the murders of Dominque and Louissant. Sévère had been indicted
on 28 January 2003.

 --
Régis Bourgeat
Despacho Américas / Americas desk
Reporters sans frontières
5, rue Geoffroy-Marie
75009 Paris - France

tél. : +33 (0) 1 44 83 84 68
fax : +33 (0) 1 45 23 11 51
e-mail : ameriques@rsf.org
        / americas@rsf.org