24146: (pub) Chamberlain: Mother of slain Haiti reporter accuses police (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Jan 25 (Reuters) - The mother of a Haitian
radio journalist killed in a Port-au-Prince slum brought formal charges on
Tuesday against police she accuses of executing him.
     Abdias Jean died in a Jan. 14 police raid on Village de Dieu, reputed
to be a bastion of gangs loyal to ousted former President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide.
     A human rights activist and eye witnesses said police executed Jean
after he saw them kill three youths. Police acknowledged killing several
"bandits" in the raid.
     The interim government of Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, which
replaced Aristide after he was driven into exile last year, said it is
investigating.
     A lawyer for Jean's family, Mario Joseph, said that besides lodging a
criminal complaint against the police, Jean's mother, Raymonde Jean, seeks
unspecified civil damages.
     "When summary executions occur like that and authorities don't act, it
sends a bad signal that the authors may continue to kill with guaranteed
impunity," Joseph told Reuters.
     It was unclear if the suit would proceed.
     Latortue said his government would punish rogue policemen but noted
that police were more often victims than abusers.
     "It is possible in any country in the world that police commit
mistakes, but today in Haiti there have been more policemen killed during
the past six months than the two or three names (of people) they say may
have been killed by the police," Latortue told Reuters in weekend
interview.
     The long unstable and impoverished Caribbean country of 8 million
people has been afflicted by violence since Aristide fled, despite the
presence of 6,000 U.N. troops and more than 1,000 U.N. civilian police
trying to keep the peace between foes and supporters of Aristide.
     "If there are actions that are committed in defiance of the law and
that violate human rights, we'll punish those policemen," Latortue said.