21215: (Hermantin) Miami-Herald-Amnesty group assails new Haitian leadership (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Thu, Apr. 08, 2004



CRISIS IN HAITI


Amnesty group assails new Haitian leadership

Amnesty International cites evidence of intimidation and rights abuses in
Haiti, despite the presence of a multinational peacekeeping force.

BY MICHAEL A.W. OTTEY

mottey@herald.com


PORT-AU-PRINCE -- Haiti is mired in human rights abuses, political vengeance
and fear, some of it caused by the interim government, Amnesty International
said on Wednesday.

Wrapping up a 15-day fact-finding mission, representatives of the human
rights group said that the organization was ''deeply concerned'' for the
safety of the country's civilian population.

Amnesty found evidence of intimidation and rights abuses across the
political spectrum, despite the presence of a multinational peacekeeping
force. But the group was pointedly critical of the interim government, led
by Prime Minister Gerard Latortue.

''Since coming to power, the interim government has swiftly moved to arrest
members of former President [Jean-Bertrand] Aristide's Lavalas Family party
suspected of acts of political violence or corruption,'' said Yvonne
Terlingen, Amnesty's representative to the United Nations. ``However, it has
failed to act against a number of known perpetrators of grave human rights
violations.''

Minister of Justice Bernard Gousse told The Herald on Tuesday that he
disagrees with the assessment that the government is exclusively targeting
Aristide loyalists.

Terlingen said convicted criminals being allowed to roam the streets freely
include Louis Jodel Chamblain and Jean Pierre Baptiste, also known as Jean
Tatoune.

''The delegation interviewed Haitians from across the political and social
spectrum,'' Terlingen said. ``All expressed a profound sense of insecurity
and fear for their own safety from one or the other of the armed elements
currently at large.''

She said members of those armed elements include thugs, armed pro-Aristide
gangs, nonpolitical armed gangs, ex-military authorities, former rural
police chiefs responsible for past abuses and individuals who participated
in the 1991 coup that removed Aristide.

''Amnesty International is particularly concerned for the safety of judges,
prosecutors, criminal investigators, victims, witnesses and human rights
defenders involved in prosecutions relating to past human rights abuses,''
she said.

She cited the case of Napela Saintil, the chief judge in the trial of
individuals responsible for a 1994 massacre in the Raboteau slum of
Gonaives. Chamblain, one of the leaders of the recent uprising that ousted
Aristide, was convicted in absentia for his involvement in the massacre. He
now moves freely in Cap Haitien.

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