24093: Esser (news): Haitian Death Squad Leader Emmanuel 'Toto' Constant to be Brought to Justice (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

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


T h e   C e n t e r    f o r    J u s t i c e    &    A c c o u n t a b
i l i t y

“Bringing human rights abusers to justice. Representing torture
survivors in U.S. courts.”

For Immediate Release                                                
   

January 14, 2005                                      

Contacts:
Center for Justice & Accountability (San Francisco, CA):
Moira Feeney, Attorney, (415) 544-0444 x302, mfeeney@cja.org

Matt Eisenbrandt, Litigation Director, (415) 544-0444 x304,
meisenbrandt@cja.org

Center for Constitutional Rights (New York, NY)
Jennie Green, Senior Attorney, (212) 614-6431, jgreen@ccr-ny.org



HAITIAN DEATH SQUAD LEADER, Toto Constant, to be brought to justice
for his campaign of rape and murder

Courageous women bring civil suit FOR ABUSES BY FRAPH


New York, NY: January 14, 2005.  Emmanuel “Toto” Constant was served
with a lawsuit today that accuses him of responsibility for torture,
crimes against humanity and the systematic use of violence against
women, including rape, for the purpose of terrorizing the Haitian
population during that country’s brutal military regime in the early
1990s.  

Despite being the outspoken leader of the paramilitary death squad
known as FRAPH (Revolutionary Front for the Advancement and Progress
of Haiti), Toto Constant has lived and worked openly in Queens, New
York, for the last ten years.  The U.S. government tried to deport
Constant in 1995, but suspended its efforts and released him from
detention after he threatened on the 60 Minutes news program to
expose information about the CIA’s role in the formation of FRAPH.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in the Southern District of
New York by the Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA), based in
San Francisco, on behalf of several women who survived savage gang
rapes and other forms of extreme violence, including attempted
murder.  The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), based in New
York, is serving as local counsel.

Following a violent military coup against President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide in 1991, the Haitian Armed Forces trained and armed members
of FRAPH to maintain control over Haiti’s poor masses.  After
democracy was returned to Haiti in October 1994, the government of
President Aristide issued a warrant for Constant’s arrest.  He fled
and came to the United States. 

All three plaintiffs in this case are women who were targeted by
Constant and FRAPH as part of a systematic campaign of violence
against women.  Two of the women were gang raped repeatedly by FRAPH
members in front of their families.  One of the plaintiffs became
pregnant and bore a child as a result of the rape she suffered. 
FRAPH operatives attacked the third plaintiff, leaving her for dead. 
Due to the fear of reprisals, the plaintiffs in this case have filed
their claims anonymously. 

The lawsuit is especially timely because Haiti is again suffering
from the massive, sytematic human rights violations committed during
the 1991-94 military dictatorship.  Many of Constant’s former
subordinates in FRAPH are again wielding considerable power.   They
have embarked on a campaign of abuses, including widespread rape,
since President Aristide was forced from office in February, 2004. 
Among the leaders of this renewed violence are FRAPH’s former
second-in-command, Jodel Chamblain, and local chief Jean Pierre
(alias Jean Tatoune), both convicted murderers.  In addition, three
members of the military government’s High Command who were deported
from the U.S. for their involvement in human rights violations –
General Jean-Claude Duperval, Lieutenant Colonel Hébert Valmond, and
Colonel Carl Dorelien – were freed from prison and have not been
re-arrested.  CJA brought a case against Dorelien before he was
deported and obtained a court order preventing him from receiving
nearly $1 million he won from the Florida State Lottery. 

The types of attacks suffered by the plaintiffs in this case – the
gang rape of women by paramilitaries as a form of punishment for the
women’s political beliefs – have been occurring in alarming numbers
in recent months. One of the plaintiffs in the suit against Constant,
speaking on behalf of all of the plaintiffs, said: “We hope that the
suit will deter at least some of the violence, by sending a message
that anyone who commits atrocities will no longer be able to visit or
live in the U.S. with impunity.”

CJA’s Executive Director Sandra Coliver stated: “Toto Constant’s
comfortable lifestyle in Queens has enraged and offended the Haitian
community in this country as well as human rights activists around
the globe. We are honored to represent these courageous women who are
taking great risks by coming forward.  They brought this lawsuit in
the name of the hundreds of women who cannot speak out because of the
violence that reigns today in Haiti.” 

Commonly referred to as “The Devil,” Toto Constant has been the
target of several community protests in Queens. In November 2000, he
was convicted in absentia in Haiti for his role in the notorious
“Raboteau Massacre” of April 1994.  Until now, no court in the U.S.
or Haiti has forced him to face trial in person for the human rights
abuses he committed against the people of Haiti.  No one from the
ranks of FRAPH or the Haitian Armed Forces has been held accountable
for the hundreds of politically motivated rapes that were committed
and continue to be committed against the women of Haiti.

CJA, based in San Francisco, has obtained favorable verdicts in
similar cases involving human rights abusers from Bosnia, El Salvador
and Chile who had come to live in the U.S.  The Center for
Constitutional Rights has brought human rights cases against
individuals and corporations responsible for human rights violations
since 1980, when CCR filed the groundbreaking case which allowed
those who have suffered human rights abuses to bring their claims in
U.S. courts.

Jennie Green, CCR Senior Attorney, commented:  “The U.S. government
claims to be fighting a war on terrorism, all the while allowing a
man who terrorized people in Haiti to prosper in our midst. 
Documents released by the U.S. government show FRAPH’s role in human
rights violations.  Constant as its leader must be held accountable.”

For additional information about the case, please see CJA’s website:
http://www.cja.org/.  For more information on the current human
rights situation in Haiti please contact the Institute for Justice
and Democracy in Haiti at info@ijdh.org or visit http://www.ijdh.org/.