25022: Simidor Re: 24981: Severe: RE: Neptune in jail (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: daniel simidor <danielsimidor@yahoo.com>

Dear Mr. Severe,

In my very first post on this question, I said that
Neptune should be sent home because there is nothing
to be gained from his death.  By that I meant that
justice would not be served.  And now for the points
where we disagree:

1.  In this country, a cop can show up on your door
step and slap his handcuffs on you, and that’s legal.
In Haiti, the police must first show you an arrest
warrant signed by a judge, stating the reason for your
arrest.  In this case: presumed involvement in the La
Scirie massacre.

2.  The law in both countries calls for the accused to
appear in a court of law for his indictment in very
short order: 48 hours.  The main purpose of this,
given the presumption of innocence, is to set bail.
Bail, however, is not a given.  In this so-called Land
of the Free, millions of poor black and brown people
languish in jail because they couldn’t make bail or
because they couldn’t afford a lawyer.  Closer to
home, thousands of undocumented Haitians languish at
the Krome concentration facility in Florida, because
Uncle Sam says so.

3.  Preventive detention is used in Haiti as a form of
punishment.  Under Neptune’s government, a group of
Guacimal trade-unionists spent months in jail, until
an international campaign forced the government to
admit it had no case against them.  This is the kind
of justice Neptune meted out when he was in power.
Now that the shoe is on the other foot, he wants the
whole world to feel sorry for him.

4.  The interim government blames Neptune and his
lawyers for delaying his day in court with his
absolute refusal to stand trial in Saint-Marc.  That
objection was fought all the way to the Supreme Court
(Cour de Cassation), and then ... Neptune went on his
hunger strike.

5.  Lavalas and the so-called international community
can move heaven and earth, but they cannot exonerate
Neptune from the charges against him.  He should go
home and start preparing for his trial.

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