23755: (pub) Chamberlain: Haitian Murder Charges (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   MIAMI, Nov  8 (AP) -- A former Haitian military officer convicted in
absentia for the murder of a well-known backer of former Haitian President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide was arrested Monday in Miami, U.S. customs officials
said.
   In 1993 a government death squad took Antoine Izmery from a church
during a mass and shot him twice in the head, U.S. officials said. Marc
Kernizan was a member of that squad, but fled Haiti before he could testify
about the murder, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
officials.
   The agency would not provide details about how long Kernizan had been in
the United States and what he was doing here. It also would not reveal the
circumstances of his arrest.
   Izmery, a businessman, was the campaign fund-raiser for Aristide in 1990
presidential elections that he won in a landslide.
   Kernizan was one of 17 men convicted in absentia for Izmery's murder in
1995 and sentenced to life at hard labor. Immigration officials said they
started removal proceedings for Kernizan. He was being held at Krome
Detention Center west of Miami.