24878: Mayas (news) Former Haitian Prime Minister Beaten in Prison ...

[sak-pase@bimini.ws]

jocelyne mayas <makandale@yahoo.com>

Democracy Now!
http://www.democracynow.org/
April 25, 2005
Fomer Haitian Prime Minister Beaten in Prison as Interim Government
Prepares to Charge Him in Connection with Political Killings

download the Show [mp3, 27 MB]:
http://www.archive.org/download/dn2005-0425/dn2005-0425-1_64kb.mp3      

To listen Listen to the segment, watch a 128k or 256k stream go to:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/04/25/1342232

The US-backed interim government of Haiti is preparing to charge
former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune with having a role in a series of
political killings in the town of St. Marc. in February 2004.
Meanwhile, his family says he was badly beaten on Friday. We speak
with a friend of Yvon Neptune, Jean-Jean Pierre. [includes rush
transcript]

The US-backed interim government of Haiti is preparing to charge
former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune with having a role in a series of
political killings in the town of St. Marc in February 2004. Neptune
served as prime minister under Jean Bertrand Aristide who was ousted
last year in what he calls a modern-day kidnapping in the service of
a coup d'etat backed by the United States. He has denied the
accusations and has refused legal representation because he believes
his prosecution is illegitimate and illegal. This according to Brian
Concannon of the Institute for Justice and Democracy.

Neptune's family says he was badly beaten on Friday as he was taken
to a court in Saint Marc to be charged.

Neptune's indictment comes four days after officials charged former
Interior Minister Jocelerme Privert in the St. Marc killings. Neptune
and Privert had been among dozens of former government officials who
had been jailed without charge since Aristide's ouster.

Interview with Jean-Jean Pierre, friend of Yvon Neptune.

RUSH TRANSCRIPT

AMY GOODMAN: We are joined now on the phone by Jean-Jean Pierre, a
friend of Yvon Neptune. Welcome to Democracy Now!

JEAN-JEAN PIERRE: Thank you, Amy.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you give us the latest -- we only have a few minutes
-- but the latest on what you understand happened to the former prime 
minister, Yvon Neptune, on Friday morning?

JEAN-JEAN PIERRE: Well, after a month stay at a hospital run by the
U.N., on Thursday, this past Thursday, Yvon Neptune was transferred
to an annex of the prison, still run by the -- conjointly by the --
I’m sorry, jointly by the U.N. and the Haitian police on Thursday. On
Friday morning, 4:00 in the morning, was taken by force to St. Marc,
but he resisted, because he wanted his attorney first. He didn't want
to be tried, at least to be heard in St. Marc because, as you aptly
said, he has not been charged. So this is preventive imprisonment,
and it's been a year now. And in the process, he resisted and
apparently even bit someone who hit him, and that's when they
tortured him. They beat him up simply because that is traditionally
the reaction of Haitian police. Very -- the U.N. -- by the way, it’s
the U.S.-trained Haitian police. If you know, according to Small Arms
Survey, an independent group, the U.S. just spent $6 million arming
this police, which is accused of human rights violations. So, it's so
badly that when he arrived at St. Marc, that the U.N. now picked him
up from -- by helicopter because when he went there, it was by car.
And it's a treacherous road going to St. Marc, two-and-a-half hours,
and the guy was already six days into his hunger strike. So today,
this is the eighth day. He has not drunk any liquid, has not eaten
and his wife and other relatives to whom I spoke late last night told
me that in two days he will probably get into a coma, if this
continues, if the situation remains. So, I think this is an S.O.S.,
and I think the U.N. will be directly responsible, as well as the
White House, for not only orchestrating a coup, not only keeping an
illegitimate government on, but also for creating a situation where
these people feel with impunity, the de facto government in Haiti
feel with impunity, they can arrest people without charging them. And
I believe it's not only Yvon, it’s, as you said, So Anne, another
Lavalas artist.

AMY GOODMAN: The musician. But just as we have 30 seconds now on Yvon
Neptune, has he been charged with orchestrating the political
killings in St. Marc?

JEAN-JEAN PIERRE: Well, he has not been charged actually, because he
has never appeared before a judge to be formally charged, but the
police, the reason they -- they arrested him illegally, by the way.
According to the Constitution, you cannot arrest someone after 6:00
p.m. It's because there were two gangs pro and against Aristide
fighting in St. Marc, and there was some killings from both sides,
but these people wanted to humiliate Yvon, but also they wanted to
prevent him from taking part of the next presidential elections. I
think that is the main reason.

AMY GOODMAN: Jean-Jean Pierre, I want to thank you for being with us.
We'll continue to follow the story this week.

To purchase an audio or video copy of this entire program call
1 (800) 881-2359.