21151: Esser: Absent Justice, Destabilizing Effects of Insurgents Continue (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser torx@joimail.com

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
http://hrw.org

April 5, 2003

Haiti: Powell Should Back Rebel Prosecutions
Absent Justice, Destabilizing Effects of Insurgents Continue

(New York, April 5, 2004) -- U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell
should press the interim Haitian government to pursue justice for
abusive rebel leaders as well as members of the deposed government,
Human Rights Watch said today. Secretary Powell's one-day mission to
Haiti today is the first such visit by a U.S. secretary of state
since Madeleine Albright went to Haiti in 1998.
Vowing to end impunity, Haitian justice officials have promised to
prosecute abusive former members of the government of President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, but have showed little interest in pursuing
abusive leaders of the rebel forces. Last week, Justice Minister
Bernard Gousse raised the possibility of pardoning Jean Tatoune
(whose real name is Jean Pierre Baptiste), a rebel leader who was
sentenced to life imprisonment in 2000 for his role in a 1994
massacre of Aristide supporters.  
 
"The contrast between the Haitian government's eagerness to prosecute
former Aristide officials and its indifference to the abusive record
of certain rebel leaders could not be more stark," said Joanne
Mariner, deputy director of Americas Division for Human Rights Watch.
"Secretary Powell should remind Haitian officials that, if justice is
not evenhanded, it's little more than politics."  
 
Secretary Powell has explicitly condemned the violent record of some
rebel commanders. In mid-February, in comments to reporters,
Secretary Powell described these men as "murderers and thugs." His
statements underscored the fact that rebel leaders such as Jean
Tatoune and Louis Jodel Chamblain have been convicted of serious
human rights crimes.  
 
Yet Haitian Prime Minister Gerard Latortue has, in contrast, publicly
lauded the rebel forces. On March 20, during a visit to the rebel
stronghold of Gonaives, Latortue referred implicitly to Secretary
Powell's comments, stating that in the United States "they thought
the people in Gonaives were thugs and bandits."  
 
Latortue repudiated this view, saying that in his opinion "they are
freedom fighters."  
 
The most notorious of the insurgent leaders is Louis Jodel Chamblain,
the apparent second in command to rebel commander Guy Philippe.
Chamblain, one of the founders of the violent paramilitary group
known as the Revolutionary Front for Haitian Advancement and Progress
(FRAPH), was convicted in absentia and sentenced to life imprisonment
for the 1993 murder of Antoine Izméry, a well-known pro-democracy
activist, and for involvement in the April 1994 Raboteau massacre in
which some 20 people are believed to have been killed.  
 
Another member of the insurgent forces with a history of violent
abuses is Jean Pierre Baptiste, better known as Jean Tatoune.
Tatoune, a local FRAPH leader during the 1991-1994 military
government, was sentenced to life imprisonment for the Raboteau
massacre. He escaped from prison in Gonaives in August 2002, as part
of a mass prison break, and later joined the armed insurgency.  
 
The Haitian government has announced that the fight against impunity
will be one of its highest priorities. Haitian justice officials have
promised to prosecute a number of former government officials,
including Aristide himself, for human rights crimes and corruption.  
 
Two weeks ago, while on a 10-day visit to Haiti, Human Rights Watch
representatives met with Bernard Gousse, Haiti's new minister of
justice. Gousse told Human Rights Watch that the government might
consider giving Jean Tatoune a reduction in sentence if Tatoune
turned himself in to the justice authorities. The reduction could be
merited, Gousse claimed, because "he's fought against two
dictatorships."  
 
Human Rights Watch has called on U.S. forces in Haiti to arrest human
rights criminals such as Tatoune and Chamblain and bring them to
justice.  
 
"To allow them to move about freely, under the eyes of U.S. troops,
is likely to further destabilize the country and result in continued
violence," said Mariner.  

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