22813: Griffin: INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE AND DEMOCRACY IN HAITI

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Thomas M. Griffin <griffin@msgimmigration.com>


INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE AND DEMOCRACY IN HAITI
Human Rights Update, July 26, 2004


       This report will address the current human rights situation in
Haiti, as of July 26, 2004, with a focus on human rights protection and
respect for the rule of law.  Information for this report comes from
investigations conducted by IJDH staff in Haiti and from the cited
public reports.  For the MSWord version, with footnotes, email
brianhaiti@aol.com.

I.  Human Rights Protection

       People perceived to support Haiti's constitutional government or
Fanmi Lavalas, the political party of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
have been systematically persecuted from late February through the
present.   In many cases, the de facto government of Prime Minister
Gerard  Latortue is directly responsible for the persecution; in other
cases it is refusing to take steps to prevent its allies from
persecuting Lavalas supporters.

A.  Official persecution

1.  Illegal arrests and detention
   The de facto authorities regularly arrest political opponents in
violation of constitutional civil liberties protections.  This section
will focus on persecution of officials and prominent supporters of the
Constitutional government, whose cases are well documented.  But
information from relatives and from visits to prisons throughout Haiti
indicates that the prominent cases are only the tip of the iceberg, that
every prison in Haiti contains dozens of people held for political
reasons without  the benefit of any legal proceedings.

       As in the US and other countries, warrants are required for
arrests in Haiti unless the police observe a crime being committed or
are in hot pursuit of a suspect .   The  de facto  government routinely
ignores this requirement when making political arrests, including the
following cases:

       Pierre Reynold Charles, a professor at the State University, and
a prominent Lavalas supporter.  Professor  Charles has been a leading
speaker, over the last year, in favor of restitution from France of
Haiti's independence debt.  He was arrested on May 2, without a warrant.


       Annette Auguste, a folksinger and well-known Lavalas activist in
her sixties, arrested on May 9.  Although U.S. Marines actually made the
warrantless arrest, Haitian authorities keep her in prison.

       Arens Laguerre, a cameraman for Teletimoun, a children's
television station, arrested without a warrant on May 28.


       Jacques Mathelier, the Delegate of the South Department,
arrested without a warrant in June.

       French UN troops attempted a warrantless arrest of Moise
Jean-Charles, the elected Mayor of the town of Milot, on June 14.  When
Mr. Jean-Charles fled, his wife and wife's uncle were arrested, without
a warrant.  Both spent the night in prison before being freed.

       The Constitution prohibits the arrest of a relative or any other
person in the place of a suspect.   This provision was enacted to outlaw
a traditional practice of Haitian dictatorships- holding the family
members of political opponents hostage, to force the opponent to turn
himself in for persecution or stop his political activities.  In
addition to Mayor Jean-Charles' family members, ten family members of
Annette Auguste, including a child, were arrested along with her.  The
brother of Myrtho Julien, the Departmental Delegate for the North, was
arrested when Mr. Julien could not be found.  All of these relatives
were eventually released, with no charges ever made against them.

       The Constitution forbids arrests between 6PM and 6AM, unless the
police see a crime being committed or are in hot pursuit.    This
provision sought to outlaw another dictatorial tradition, political
arrests made in the middle of the night, when there were fewer
witnesses.  Former Minister of the Interior Jocelerme Privert, arrested
on April 4, and Annette Auguste were both arrested in the middle of the
night, in their homes. The attempt to arrest Mayor Moise Jean Charles
took place at 4AM.   In Minister Privert's case, the de facto Minister
of Justice, Bernard Gousse, personally led the illegal operation.

       Victims' families report that hundreds of less prominent Lavalas
supporters have been arrested throughout the country, often in violation
of several constitutional provisions.  These reports cannot be
confirmed, however, because the prison authorities do not allow
independent human rights groups full access to the prisons and prison
records.  Preliminary investigations do indicate that significant
numbers of supporters of the Constitutional government are incarcerated
without a warrant or judicial order in Port-au-Prince, Les Cayes and
Gonaives.  In addition, there have been persistent reports of police
conducting large, sweeping arrest operations in poor neighborhoods that
are considered Lavalas strongholds.  The police claim that the arrestees
are common criminals, but as there are no warrants or subsequent
judicial action, it is impossible to confirm this claim.

       The Constitution requires that arrestees must be released if they
are not brought before a judge who confirms the arrest's legality within
48 hours of arrest.   The following prominent arrestees were  not
released, despite not being brought before a judge within 48 hours:
Professor Pierre Reynold Charles, journalist Arens Laguerre, Delegate
Jacques Mathelier, former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune and former
Minister  of the Interior Jocelerme Privert.  In most cases, no regular
criminal procedure is being followed, the detainee is merely sitting in
prison.  Neither Prime Minister Neptune nor Minister Privert have ever
been brought before the judge who issued their arrest warrant.  On July
20, over thirty prisoners in Gonaives began a protest action because
they had not been brought before a judge.  Many low-profile prisoners in
Les Cayes and Port-au-Prince report that they have never seen a judge.

   Delegate Jacques Mathelier was brought before a judge, who ordered
his liberation on July 12, because there were no legal accusations
against him.  In response, prison authorities transferred Mathelier out
of that judge's jurisdiction, to the National Penitentiary.  Mathelier
remains in prison, and has become gravely ill because of the prisons'
unsanitary conditions.

   In addition to procedural illegality, in many cases of imprisonment
of Lavalas partisans the case file contains no accusation or other
indication that the person detained committed a crime.  Press reports
state the basis as rumors or accusations by anti-Lavalas human rights
organizations, but there is no legally cognizable basis in the files.
For example, Prime Minister Neptune was arrested for an alleged massacre
in February called the "La Scierie Massacre," apparently based solely on
a public denunciation by a human rights group.  No complaint was filed,
nor have witnesses come forward against Mr. Neptune in that case.  After
journalists and independent human rights groups reported that there was
little proof the massacre happened, never mind that the Prime Minister
was involved, the alleged justification was changed to another incident
in December, at the State University.  But no witnesses or other
evidence against Mr. Neptune have been produced for that incident
either.

       Shortly after the attempted arrest of Mayor Moise Jean Charles, a
local judge issued a report confirming that there were, in fact, no
outstanding accusations against him.  Professor Reynold Charles is
accused of "distributing a police uniform," but there is no complaint,
witness statement or evidence to justify the charge.  Annette Auguste is
also named as a suspect in the December events at the University, but no
proof of her involvement has been produced.

   The prisons are dangerously overcrowded and unsanitary.  Many prisons
were destroyed by the insurgents, especially in Cap Haitian, Gonaives,
Les Cayes and Jeremie.  The large influx of prisoners, including many
political prisoners, are crowded into the remaining areas.   There is
not adequate food, potable water or healthcare, and many prisoners have
become seriously ill.

  2.  Illegal Searches
   Haitian law requires a warrant, and the presence of a Justice of the
Peace, for all searches.  The houses of Moise Jean-Charles and Annette
Auguste were meticulously searched, without the presence of a judge.
Both of these searches took place between 6PM and 6AM, in violation of
the Constitution.

  3.  Persecution of the Press
       Radio TiMoun and TeleTimoun were illegally closed by the
government on May 18, and have not been allowed to broadcast since.
They were closed on the basis of an oral order by the Minister of
Education, who has no authority in the matter.   There is no evidence in
the court file to justify the closing, and the proper  legal procedures
for closing the station were not followed.

       Arens Laguerre, a cameraman for TeleTimoun station, was arrested
illegally on May 28.   After protests, the police claimed he had bullets
in his pockets. Laguerre was not released until the New York-based
Committee to Protect Journalists issued a protest.

4.  Infringement of Freedom of Speech and Assembly
       The police illegally stopped a legal pro-democracy demonstration
on May 18.  The de facto government induced the U.S. Marines in the
Multinational Interim Force to assist in stopping the demonstration by
claiming that the demonstration was illegal, as the organizers had not
given the required notice.  The demonstration had, in fact, been
announced well in advance, and the police subsequently admitted that the
organizers had provided proper notice. Police fired on this peaceful
demonstration, killing at least one person.   The arrest of Annette
Auguste, a prominent demonstration organizer, came just after the
demonstration was announced.  Radio and TeleTimoun were closed the
afternoon of the demonstration, after they had reported on the large
number of participants.

       The arrest attempt against Mayor Jean-Charles took place the
morning after he had helped organize demonstrations in Cap Haitian and
Milot.  He has also spoken widely since February, in the Haitian and
U.S. media, about repression in Haiti.

5.  Infringement on the Independence of the Judiciary
   On July 1, ANAMAH, the national judges' association, issued a press
release deploring the increase in the politicization of justice and
illegal arrests over the last four months.   The refusal to obey the
judge's release order for Jacques Mathelier illustrates this trend.
According to lawyers for Pierre Reynold Charles, the judge in his case
was about to prepare a liberation order when the prosecutor called him
up and ordered him not to.  Lawyers representing political prisoners
complain that this interference has become standard operating procedure.


B.  Failure to Protect Citizens

   Many pro-democracy and Lavalas activists have been attacked and
threatened by paramilitary gangs.  Although these groups are not
formally integrated into the de facto government, they  work together
closely: in many areas police and paramilitaries conduct joint
operations or share facilities; the police and prisons hold people the
paramilitaries arrest illegally; and de facto officials appear publicly
with paramilitary leaders, in one case lauding them as "freedom
fighters."  The paramilitaries persecute political activists, students,
journalists, judges, prosecutors and other civil servants, as well as
women, including women who were victims of rape under the 1991-1994
dictatorship.   Hundreds, probably more than a thousand, have been
killed, many others beaten.  Hundreds of houses have been burned and
destroyed.   Although conditions make it impossible to verify the exact
number, thousands of people are in some kind of hiding, especially in
Port-au-Prince, where victims from the countryside have fled rural
persecution, and urban victims stay with relatives and friends in
different neighborhoods, or sleep at a different house each night.

       The Director of the State Hospital Morgue in Port-au-Prince
reported that the morgue had disposed of over 1000 bodies in the month
of March alone.  Although some of these may have died of natural causes,
in a normal month the morgue disposes of 100 cadavers.  The Director
said that many of the 1000 disposed bodies arrived with hands tied
behind the back and bullet holes in the back of the head.    The
Catholic Church's Justice and Peace Commission reported finding 300
cadavers in the street in February and March, most with bullet holes,
and estimated that the total number of killings could be as high as 500.


       The insurgents have also attacked the press, with impunity.  They
have illegally abducted, detained and beaten at least three journalists
they consider insufficiently supportive.    They have also destroyed at
least four entire radio stations, in Cap Haitian  and St. Marc.

II.  Respect for the Rule of Law

   There have been no attempts to arrest anyone for attacks against
Lavalas supporters, including perpetrators actually convicted of crimes
during the previous de facto regime (1991-1994).  The insurgents
attacked the prisons in the days leading up to the February 28 coup
d'etat, and released all the prisoners, including people convicted of
major human rights violations, and others legally imprisoned pending
trial.  Human rights abusers convicted in absentia returned to Haiti
from abroad with the insurgents.  Some of the escaped convicts work with
police to identify Lavalas supporters, who are subsequently abducted or
killed.

   Approximately thirteen people convicted in the Raboteau Massacre
Trial were among the prison escapees, including former soldiers such as
the notorious Captain Cenafils Castera and FRAPH members.  Many of them
had been identified as serious human rights violators by the US
government between 1991 and 1994.  Jean Pierre, a.k.a. "Tatoune," a
local FRAPH leader and current leader of the Gonaives Resistance Front,
was also convicted for Raboteau, but escaped in 2002.  The US had
deported three members of the high command who had been convicted in
absentia for Raboteau: Carl Dorelien, Hebert Valmond and Jean-Claude
Duperval, so that they could face justice.  All three escaped from the
National Penitentiary on February 29.

       Jodel Chamblain, convicted in absentia in the Raboteau Massacre
trial, did turn himself in, but the Minister of Justice declared that
"he had nothing to fear from Haitian justice."   He has been reported to
circulate freely in the prison, and even question visitors to other
detainees.

       Former dictator Prosper Avril was also in prison, having been
formally charged in the 1990 Piatre massacre.  A US Federal Court had
found him liable in a civil case for his widespread use of torture
against political opponents.  He escaped on February 28.  Henri-Robert
Marc-Charles, also charged with murder in the Piatre case, is now a
senior advisor in the Ministry of the Interior.

       The Latortue government has made no effort to disarm the
insurgents and other allies who are carrying and using illegal weapons.
Heavily-armed paramilitary groups illegally control many areas of the
country,   marking a return to the practices of military dictatorships.
The armed gangs make arrests, without warrants or other legal authority,
especially in St. Marc, Cap Haitian and Petit-Goave.  Some even
pronounce and execute death sentences, with no trial.   The police and
judiciary collaborate with this illegality, by holding the arrestees.
The military's traditional allies, the quasi-military "Section Chiefs"
have started to reclaim power from local elected officials.

       The Latortue government has done nothing to investigate attacks
against journalists and radio stations, or to  punish the perpetrators.

       In addition to irregular units exercising illegal power, the
government has also illegally integrated former soldiers into regular
Haitian National Police units, bypassing the police force's requirements
and procedures for recruitment, training and promotion.  This practice
decreases police accountability, and increases politicization of the
force.  When the US helped establish the Haitian National Police after
1994, it screened many former soldiers, and determined that the vast
majority were not fit for civilian police duty.  Integrating such people
into the force now is a recipe for abuse and repression.


III.  Conclusion

   The Latortue government must immediately stop all persecution of
those perceived to support Lavalas or Haiti's constitutional government,
and must start scrupulously respecting the Haitian Constitution's civil
liberties protections.  It must not only end abuses by its own police
and judicial officials,  but also bring its paramilitary allies under
the rule of law.

_______________________________________


Contact:  Brian Concannon Jr.
        541-432-0597
        BrianHaiti@aol.com
INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE AND DEMOCRACY IN HAITI
Human Rights in Haiti, February-May 2004

The Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) recently
released a report on human rights in Haiti from late February to mid-May
2004.  The report is based on reports to IJDH's staff in Haiti and
follow-up interviews, and focusses on serious human rights violations,
especially killings and disappearances, over that period.

The report has two main purposes: 1) to amplify the voices of grassroots
activists and residents of poor urban and rural areas, who constitute a
majority of Haiti's people but whose perspective is consistently
marginalized in debates and reporting both inside Haiti and abroad; 2)
to document the fact that there have been massive, systematic violations
of human rights since February's coup d'etat.  The report is not a
comprehensive survey of human rights in Haiti over that period.  Instead
it complements the work of  other organizations, such as Amnesty
International, that have written more comprehensive reports but did not
have an in-depth focus on victims from poor areas.

The report contains graphic photographs of victims of human rights
violations.  Although the photos are disturbing, they are a small sample
of a very disturbing reality in Haiti.  By representing that reality, we
hope to help others avoid the same horrible fate as the men and women in
the photographs.  Copies of the report without the photographs are
available.

For a copy of the report, email IJDH at BrianHaiti@aol.com, or call
541-432-0597.










-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Corbett [mailto:corbetre@webster.edu]
Sent: Friday, July 30, 2004 3:51 PM
To: Thomas M. Griffin
Subject: Re: your mail -- NOTE FOR YOU


Thomas,

I can't post the item in the form you sent it.  Please see below.

>From corbetre@webster.edu Tue Nov 25 17:48:23 2003
Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2003 17:48:03 -0600 (CST)
From: Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>
To: Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>
Subject: The post you sent has an attachment



The post you sent in comes with at least one attachment.  I don't post
any items to the list which has any attachment.  It is too easy to
pass on viruses which the sender (you) has no idea is even there.

It you post from an aol or yahoo address it is very likely that YOU
didn't
put the attachment there at all, but that your browser did witout you
even
knowing and it will continue to do.  Nearly every member of the list who
uses aol has had to telephone aol and have their technicians walk the
customer through changes that will remove the feature from aol's browser
which automatically attaches your e-mail address to the note by means of
an attachment.

At the end of this note is a note from a list member who was using
Yahoo.com and talked with them about it.  See her note.

See below for other:

The attachment may NOT be in the message.  Some browsers have an
automatic feature which uses attachments to attach your e-mail
address, or other such things.  This feature may be disabled
and many list members have done this.  I have no idea in the
world how one does this.  You'd need a computer savvy person to
help.

However, more often than not it is not the browser, but the fact that
the message has been copied rather than typed.

In order for me to post the note to the list I will need it in
a form that doesn't come with attachments.

================

Guy Antoine adds:

Bob, I think that the situation depends on the mail client
one uses. For my part, I use Outlook Express which comes
bundled with MS Internet Explorer and the several latest
versions of Windows.I suspect that many others use it too,
since it is free and an integral part of the most used internet
browser in the world.

When composing a letter in Outllok Express, one has the
option of changing the "default format" between two options:
one is "Rich text (HTML)", the other is "Plain text".  Right
out of the box, so to speak, the default for all new mail is
"Rich text". This is so, this allows the sender to include
much enriched visual information, particularly varied fonts
and backgrounds.  The receiver of such an e-mail falls
into two types:

1) If the receiver uses an e-mail client such as Outlook,
Outlook Express, or similar programs that are Rich Text
oriented, then the reader sees the e-mail just as intended
in his mail space, without any attachment whatsoever.
In fact, you should remember that the sender is not aware
of sending any attachment (though he could specifically
include some attachments if he wanted to) since Rich Text
is the program default.

2) If the receiver uses an e-mail client (like yours!) which
is not Rich Text or HTML friendly, then the message
received becomes an attachment though it was not sent
nor ever inteded to be sent as an attachement.

The solution: the sender has to make sure, when he sends
any mail to the Corbett list, to check the FORMAT option
on his e-mail client and change it from Rich Text to Plain
Text.  Sometimes, as you noticed, I do forget.

[ A more drastic option is to change the default format to
Plain Text for all outgoing mail, but that requires sacrificing
a feature that provides fun and utility to a lot of people.
Finally, it's possible to instruct Outlook Express to send
e-mail to specific receivers like Bob Corbett using Plain
Text settings only.  But this requires some fiddling that
many of your list users may not be accustomed to do]

Guy

>From a yahoo - user:

Ordinary Yahoo! messages come with a promotional tagline or footer at
the
end.  This shows up as a web-link (blue, underlined) at the bottom of
the
e-mail message.  This is apparently seen as an "attachment" by Bob and
the
Corbett list's server.

Here's what Yahoo Mail Help says about this:

"Why is there a footer on all my messages?

The footer, which is appended to all messages sent with Yahoo! Mail, is
a
way for us to spread the news about available Yahoo! services. The
footer
cannot be removed or modified. We have tried to make the footer as
unobtrusive as possible. Most mailing lists handle this footer well.
However, if you are sending to a list that is unable to process the
footer, you may want to contact the mail list administrator directly for
assistance processing your request. If you send email through the web
interface, the footer will still be attached to your outbound mail."

But Yahoo! now offers what it calls Mail Plus, for a price that starts
at
US$30 a year.  It has a number of good features (like more storage and
the
ability to put Yahoo onto Outlook Express) and it takes the "footer"
off.

>From UK Yahoo Mail Plus Help

"No promotional taglines in messages
Whether you choose to send your email through the web interface or
through
a POP3 client, with Mail Plus all of your sent messages are free from ad
taglines."

======================

I hope you can resubmit the post without attachments.

Thanks,  Bob Corbett