22986: Esser: Chamblain and Joanis overnight trials are an insult to justice (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser <torx@joimail.com>

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/
document.do?id=80256DD400782B8480256EF3005FA2DE

AI Index: AMR 36/053/2004 (Public)
News Service No: 205
16 August 2004

Haiti: Chamblain and Joanis overnight trials are an insult to justice
The Haitian interim government failed to ensure justice and to
demonstrate its willingness to tackle impunity effectively, said
Amnesty International as Louis Jodel Chamblain and Jackson Joanis
have been acquitted of the 1993 murder of Antoine Izmery, a
pro-democracy activist and business man. The trial has been hastily
set up in a special session of the criminal court in Port-au-Prince
and the verdict was reached within a day of the hearing.

"There are a number of reasons why we can label this re-trial as a
mockery: it was set up without proper instruction and investigation
from the Prosecutor (Commissaire du Gouvernement), most of the
evidence used in the first trial has been destroyed or is missing
since the last armed rebellion, false witnesses have been called to
testify and no serious efforts have been made to find the genuine
witnesses and ensure their security. Said Amnesty International "Key
witnesses are in hiding for fear for their lives. Also no effort has
been made to arrest the other twelve paramilitary members prosecuted
in absentia in the first Izmery trial in 1995."

"After all the efforts made previously on their original trials, it
is an insult to the victims to have undergone such a high-profile
re-trial in one day," Amnesty International said, "this is a very sad
record in the history of Haiti."

Amnesty International has consistently demanded justice for
unpunished crimes committed by former Haitian military and
paramilitary members and campaigned for the re-trial of Louis Jodel
Chamblain. However, the organization expressed serious concerns about
the weakness of the Haitian judicial system and its willingness to
vigorously prosecute perpetrators of serious human rights violations
and meet international standards of fairness guaranteeing the rights
of the victims as well as the defendants.

Background information
Louis Jodel Chamblain was second in command of the paramilitary
organisation FRAPH, formed by military authorities who were the de
facto leaders of the country following the 1991 coup against
then-President Jean-Bertand Aristide. FRAPH members were responsible
for numerous human rights violations before the 1994 restoration of
democratic governance.

In September 1995, Louis Jodel Chamblain, along with 13 other
military, was convicted in absentia and sentenced to forced labour
for life for the murder of Antoine Izméry in 1993, a well-know
pro-democracy activist, and for his implication in the 1994 Raboteau
massacre. Chamblain went into exile to the Dominican Republic to
avoid prosecution. He crossed the border back into Haiti in January
2004 to lead the armed rebellion that ousted former President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Following international pressure, on 22
April, he turned himself into Police custody.

Military police captain, Jackson Joanis, was convicted in absentia
for the execution of Antoine Izméry, and sentenced to forced labour
for life. He was deported from the United States in 2002 to serve his
sentence. During the rebellion against President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide, he escaped prison but turned himself into the police on 9
August 2004.

According to Haitian law, Chamblain and Joanis have the right for a
re-trial with no assumption of guilty holding over from the previous
one.
.