21478: (Chamberlain) Haitian rebel leader surrenders (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By MICHELLE FAUL

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, April 22 (AP) -- Proclaiming his innocence, convicted
assassin and rebel commander Louis-Jodel Chamblain surrendered to justice
officials Thursday.
   To the cheers of supporters, Chamblain walked into a jail after holding
a news conference at a hotel in suburban Petionville. He was accompanied by
Haiti's interim Justice Minister Bernard Gousse and police officials.
   "I am ready to give myself up as a prisoner -- to give Haiti a chance so
we can build this democracy I have been fighting for," Chamblain told
reporters.
   Chamblain said his 1995 conviction was politically motivated, and he was
confident a new trial would vindicate him. He also urged others accused of
crimes, including members of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's
Lavalas party, to turn themselves in.
   "It is a very good and noble decision on his part," Gousse said of
Chamblain's surrender.
   It was unclear when Chamblain would go before a judge, or whether he
would be jailed.
   Since rebels launched a revolt that drove Aristide from power on Feb. 29
and prompted an exodus of judges and police, Haiti's interim leaders have
struggled to maintain order. A fraction of the country's judges and police
have returned to their posts.
   Chamblain was convicted in absentia and sentenced to life for the 1993
murder of Aristide financier Antoine Izmery, who was dragged from a church,
made to kneel and shot. Chamblain was also convicted and sentenced to life
for the 1994 killings of more than a dozen Aristide supporters in the
northern town of Gonaives.
   Although witnesses testified against him, Chamblain contends there was
never any evidence.
   Chamblain's rebels, many of whom were part of the army that Aristide
disbanded after they overthrew him in a 1991 coup, want the government to
restore the army.
   Human rights groups have criticized the country's new leaders for
associating with known criminals such as Chamblain while aggressively
pursuing members of Aristide's ousted government.
   Dozens of Aristide's former government or party members have been barred
from leaving the country as the government begins corruption
investigations.
   New York-based Human Rights Watch welcomed Chamblain's arrest Thursday,
but the group was skeptical the new government would jail him.
   "We welcome the surrender," said Joanne Mariner of Human Rights Watch.
"We would welcome his incarceration. Our concern would be ... he won't stay
in prison very long."