25076: (comment) Chamberlain: Raboteau ruling (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

This note by non list-member Mike Tarr, who has long and in-depth
experience of Haiti, is posted with his permission.

______________

A release yesterday by the RNDDH (ex-NCHR-Haïti) about the Cour de
Cassation's 3 May decision quashing the Raboteau trial
verdict deserves close reading. It seems that the AP and Reuters reports
were mistaken in suggesting that the ruling applies to
all those convicted. In fact, the ruling applies only to the 15 detainees
who appeared in court in Gonaïves and who were convicted
in a jury trial. It does not apply to the 37 others who were separately
convicted in absentia.

The 15 were mainly lower-ranking soldiers and FRAPH members. One of them
has since died. All of the other 14 (including Capt.
Castera Cénafis and Gonaïves gang leader Jean "Tatoune" Pierre) were until
now fugitives from justice, having escaped from prison.

The 37 others include Gen. Raoul Cédras and Gen. Philippe Biamby (who are
still in exile). They also include former FRAPH No. 2
Louis Jodel Chamblain and Capt. Jackson Joannis, who are currently detained
in Port-au-Prince.

According to this release, the Cour de Cassation quashed the conviction of
the group of 15 on the grounds that, under the Code d'
Instruction Criminelle, they should have been tried by a court without jury
because there was "connexité." Le Petit Robert defines
"connexité" as "lien étroit entre deux litiges où les mêmes parties sont en
cause, justifiant qu'ils soient instruits et jugés
ensemble." The RNDDH release takes the position that the mistaken decision
to try them by jury was the fault of the foreigners
[such as Brian Concannon] who helped prepare the trial and who were not
sufficiently familiar with the Haitian justice system.
This goes to show that foreigners should henceforth refrain from meddling,
the release concludes.

MT