23799 (pub) Esser: Amnesty Lambastes Haitian 'Justice' (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. E s s e r <torx@joimail.com>

Amnesty Lambastes Haitian 'Justice'

World Crisis Web
http://www.world-crisis.com/news/1068_0_1_0_M/

November 13, 2004

A delegation from the human rights group Amnesty International
expressed concern this week about “serious problems” in Haiti’s
police force and justice system, as the team ended a visit after more
than a month of sporadic violence, during which supporters of deposed
President jean-Bertrand Aristide have blamed the new regime for a
campaign of intimidation and assassinations.

The delegation from the human rights group cited reports of summary
executions, beatings, and illegal arrests, by both uniformed police
and hooded assailants working for the regime.

An estimated 170 people, mostly supporters of the Fanmi Lavalas Party
headed by Aristide, have been killed in recent weeks, as protests
calling for the return of the elected president been met with an
increasingly violent response from armed police and former rebels
responsible for the coup in March this year.

In a statement yesterday, concluding the 19-day visit, the Amnesty
International delegation said that “there are serious problems in the
functioning of… justice in particular and the functioning of the
police in general.”

The delegation urged the interim government to create an independent
commission to investigate executions carried out by men in black
uniforms and masks.

In one incident reported to Amnesty International, residents in one
Port-au-Prince slum reported that thirteen Aristide supporters were
killed on October 26th by men who appeared to be police.

Two days later, other residents said, four people were killed by men
in black uniforms who used a police vehicle.

The delegation said it also had confirmed two beatings by police -
including one in which a 13-year-old was beaten while handcuffed and
blindfolded, and another in which witnesses saw men in black uniforms
and masks arrest a man, put a plastic bag over his head, and beat him.

One doctor, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that
unidentified gunmen killed a bus driver and a one year-old girl at a
Port-au-Prince intersection on Wednesday night. The girl’s mother was
also hospitalised with a head wound during the incident, but appeared
likely to live, the doctor said.

The police have denied any involvement in the killings, and the
regime’s ‘Justice Minister’, Bernard Gousse, has said that he has
ordered an internal investigation to determine whether any rogue
police officers were involved.

However, Amnesty International criticised his announcement, saying
that his choice of putting a public prosecutor in charge raised
concerns about the value of such an investigation.

President Aristide won 92% of the vote in November 2000 elections,
deemed largely free and fair by international election monitors, but
was ousted in a coup in February led by former supporters of the
Duvalier regime, which many have said was funded by right wing USA
Republican Party and business interests. Now in exile in South
Africa, Aristide has refused to concede formal power.

A campaign of public protests by Aristide supporters met with violent
police repression on September 30th, when police opened fire on
unarmed demonstrators. Since then, a crack-down by the regime has led
to the arrest of several leading Fanmi Lavalas figures, most recently
that of Jean Mary Samedy on Wednesday, on suspicion of supporting
violent resistance to the seven month-old regime.

Despite the crack-down, Haiti received little attention in the
international media, but the crisis finally hit the headlines on
October 14th, with the arrest of Father Gerard Jean-Juste in his
parish church of St. Claire, in the poor neighborhood of Petite Place
Cazeau.

After six weeks of imprisonment, Father Jean-Juste was finally
brought to an initial hearing on Friday, accused of links to the
violent resistance. No details about the full charge, or of the
outcome to the hearing have yet emerged.

Father Jean-Juste, a vocal supporter of the elected president, is
well known locally for his humanitarian work with the city’s poor. He
has denied any involvement in violence, saying: “Everyone who knows
me knows that I do not support violence. This is a desperate move on
the government’s part to frighten people into silence who they
believe do not support them.”

In Miami today, from where Father Jean-Juste ministered during his
25-year exile from Duvalier-ruled Haiti, hundreds of South Florida
Haitians protested against the priest’s detention.

Speaking from prison in Port-au-Prince on Friday, Father Jean-Juste
said: “The repression on all levels is so heavy. I call for an
immediate return to constitutional order, the release of all
political prisoners, respect for the vote and the will of the people,
and the rejection of kidnappings and coup d’états by whoever may be
the authors.”

Last week, at a meeting of heads of state in Trinidad and Tobago, the
Caribbean Community (CARICOM) refused to resume normal relations with
the de facto government, citing it’s campaign of persecution against
Fanmi Lavalas supporters.

St. Lucia’s Prime Minister, Dr. Kenny Anthony, said after the meeting
that “any recognition of the Latortue regime or the re-admission of
the Latortue regime to the corridors of CARICOM [would require] a
return to democratic behaviour and practice”.

In other events, the de facto Haitian ‘Prime Minister’ has said that
his government will be issuing an arrest warrant for President
Aristide, but it is unlikely that the government of South Africa will
act on the warrant, since it has refused to recognise the regime, and
still regards Aristide as the legitimate president.
.