23392: Esser: Illegal Arrest of Political Leaders in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

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

Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti
http://www.ijdh.org

October 2, 2004

 From the Haiti News section of www.wbai.org
http://www.wbai.org/
index.php?option=content&task=category&sectionid=1&id=230&Itemid=2

Illegal Arrest of Political Leaders in Haiti
  	   
On Saturday October 02, 2004, Haitian police forcibly entered Haiti's
Radio Caraibe and arrested three former parliamentarians from the
Fanmi Lavalas party who had criticized the Interim Government during
a radio program.They arrested a fourth former legislator who
protested the arrests.  The warrantless arrests were illegal and a
clear violation of the detainees' freedom of association and of
expression.  They take place in the context of a wave of police
persecution of human rights critics, and verbal attacks on critics by
Haiti's Prime Minister.

The three arrested for criticizing the government were former
Senators Yvon Feuillé and Gerard Gilles, and former Deputy Rudy
Hérivaux.  The three form the Communications Commission of the Fanmi
Lavalas party, and all three are prominent critics of human rights
violations carried out by Haiti's Transitional Government. Lawyer
Axène Joseph, also a former Deputy, was arrested when he protested
the other arrests.

Feuillé, Gilles and Hérivaux had gone to Radio Caraibe to participate
on the station's 11AM "Ranmasé" program, along with Evans Paul and
Himmler Rébu, both prominent critics of the Lavalas party.  The
program's subject was violence accompanying recent anti-government
demonstrations.  Feuillé, Gilles and Hérivaux denounced the violence,
and condemned the police for firing on unarmed demonstrators.  Before
the program ended, heavily armed police officers from the
Port-au-Prince police headquarters and specialized units surrounded
the station and announced their intention to arrest the three
parliamentarians.

Radio Caraibe's Station Manager, Patrick Mossignac, refused to allow
the police entry into the station, citing the Haitian Constitution's
protection of free speech.  Himmler Rébu and Evens Paul remained in
the station to protest the police action.  A standoff ensued, until
just before 6 PM (the Constitution prohibits arrests, even with a
warrant, after 6 PM).  At that point Judge Gabriel Amboise, a Justice
of the Peace, instructed the police to cut the locks and make the
arrests.  The three Parliamentarians did not resist arrest, and were
taken by the police from the Station Manager's office to the
Port-au-Prince police holding cells.  Lawyer Axène Joseph, also a
former Deputy, was arrested earlier in the day when he arrived to
protest the other arrests.

Lawyers for the arrestees demanded that Judge Amboise produce a
warrant, as required by Haiti's Constitution.  The Judge refused,
claiming that a verbal order from the Commissaire du Gouvernement
(Chief Prosecutor) gave him the authority to make the arrest.  He
also refused to state the charge against the defendants. Throughout
the day, however, government and police sources made announcements
purporting to link Feuillé, Gilles and Hérivaux to recent violence. 
The police also claimed that a car belonging to one of the three
contained automatic weapons, but dropped this claim when journalists
and human rights observers on the scene insisted that the police, not
the parliamentarians, had brought that car.

The October 2 arrests follow a sharp upturn in attacks against
critics of the interim government's human rights policies.  On
September 7, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued a
statement expressing concern "over several key areas in which the
basic rights and freedoms of Haitians remain weak and imperiled."  On
September 16, Radio Caraibe aired an interview with Interim Prime
Minister Gerard Latortue, in which Latortue complained that human
rights criticism was making his relations with donor countries
difficult.  Later that day police officers raided the offices of the
Confederation of Haitian Workers (CTH) labor union and arrested nine
union members, all without a warrant. The official justification for
the arrest was that the defendants  were "close to the Lavalas
authorities."  Hours later, masked men in military attire attacked
the office of the Committee for the Protection of the Rights of the
Haitian People (CDPH).

The parliamentarians join many other officials of Haiti's
Constitutional government in jail, including former Prime Minister
Yvon Neptune and former Minister  of the Interior Jocelerme Privert
and former Delegate Jacques Mathelier.  All are held illegally:
neither Prime Minister Neptune nor Minister Privert have ever been
brought before the judge who issued their arrest warrant. Mr.
Mathelier was brought before a judge, who ordered his liberation on
July 12, but prison authorities transferred Mathelier out of that
judge's jurisdiction.

On Thursday, police interrupted a legal demonstration commemorating
the anniversary of Haiti's September 30, 1991 coup d'etat.  Human
rights observers accompanying the demonstration reported that police
fired on the march, after several attempts to disperse it failed. On
the morning of October 1, interim Prime Minister Latortue conceded in
a radio interview that the police had shot at protesters and
individuals had been killed, and indicated that the authorities would
take action against further protests.

Many media reports claim that demonstrators retaliated against the
police on September 30, killing three.  But before the demonstration
started, the police had reported three police officers had been
attacked in a firefight with a crime gang early that morning, with
one killed and two wounded.   The Interim Government claims to have
recovered three bodies of decapitated officers, but did not announce
their names and the Port-au-Prince morgue had not received the bodies
of any of the three as of 4 PM on Friday.  Media reports also say
that the violence occurred when demonstrators tried to pass before
the National Palace.  In fact, the unprovoked shooting happened
several blocks beyond the Palace, at the Rue des Casernes.

The end of last week saw a sharp increase in warrantless arrests and
shootings of Lavalas supporters by police and anti-Lavalas
paramilitary groups.  IJDH has received reports from all over
Port-au-Prince, especially in poor neighborhoods.  The cases that we
have been able to confirm so far are:

September 30:

Marguerite Saint-Fils, 35, shot in her home by police from the CIMO
unit during the course of an operation in La Saline . Accel Savain,
age 23 a Lavalas leader.  Police searched his home without a warrant,
and although they found no illegality, they arrested him after
finding a T-shirt supporting President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Amel Prince, 25; Lamarre Prince, 21; Amboise Frantz, 20; Wilfred
Amboise, 32; Jean Noel, 14; Laurent Yves, 21; Johny Rudolph, 23;
Sonel Laguerre, 26; Michelin Michelle, 26, all arrested on Boulevard
LaSaline, on September 30, all without warrants.

October 1:

Wendy Manigat, age 15, shot and killed by police during an operation in
Bel-Air

Roland Braneluce, 28, shot by police during a demonstration at Rue
Tiremasse.

Lesly Gustave, a member of  the National Committee of Reflection of
Famni Lavalas, was arrested at approximately 4 PM on October 1,
without a warrant.  Police are reportedly searching for the remaining
members of the committee.

In addition to police persecution, residents of Cite Soleil report
that anti-Lavalas armed gangs have been targeting Lavalas supporters
over the last few days.  Those killed include:

Maxo Casséus, a leader of a grassroots organization in Cite Soleil,
killed on September 30.

Piersine Adéma,  a resident Soleil 9 in her sixties, killed while
sitting in front of her house, reportedly by the same group that
killed Maxo Casséus.

Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti P.O. Box 745, Joseph, OR
97846 (541) 432-0597, www.ijdh.org, info@ijdh.org
.