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25115: HaitiFactsCheck: Fwd: press releaseCENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS CONDEMNS DETENTION OF YVON NEPTUNE (fwd)



From: HaitiFactsCheck@aol.com


FOR IMMEDIATE  RELEASE
Contact: Jen  Nessel 212.614.6449
CENTER FOR  CONSTITUTIONAL  RIGHTS    CONDEMNS
DETENTION OF FORMER HAITIAN PRIME  MINISTER
DENOUNCES RELEASE OF HUMAN RIGHTS  ABUSERS
May 12,  2005, New  York, NY
– The Center  for Constitutional Rights (CCR) joins the growing
international
outcry  against the detention of Yvon Neptune who served as prime minister
under  President Jean Bertrand Aristide. Mr. Neptune voluntarily turned
himself
in ten  months ago when a warrant was issued for his arrest alleging that he
was  involved in masterminding a massacre which occurred near the town of St.
Marc during the  insurrection which led to the removal of Aristide and the
installation of a  U.S.-backed Interim Government. Mr. Neptune has been in
prison
with no formal  charges brought against him despite the fact that the
Constitution of Haiti  provides that persons arrested must be charged within
48
hours. Mr. Neptune is  on a hunger strike and his condition is said to be
deteriorating rapidly. He has  refused to give up his hunger strike until the
allegations against him are  dismissed and he is released unconditionally.
CCR hosted
a press conference May 11 at its  offices in New  York where the  former prime
minister’s daughter, Maryonne Neptune, issued an urgent moral  appeal that
her father be released on humanitarian grounds. She urged the  international
community to do more to save her fathers life.
The United  Nations Human Rights Commission in Haiti conducted an independent
investigation of  incident for which Mr. Neptune is being detained and
concluded that there was a  “confrontation” between pro and anti-Aristide
supporters in which people from  both sides were killed. The 15 Nation
Caribbean
Community has consistently  protested Mr. Neptune’s detention as lacking in
the most
basic respect for due  process.
CCR President Michael Ratner said that  Mr. Neptune’s prolonged detention
without charges clearly violates international  norms:  “The international
community is virtually unanimous in condemning  the detention of Yvon Neptune
as
unlawful and unconscionable.”
CCR Executive Director Ron Daniels  cited the egregious detention of Mr.
Neptune as a part of a broader pattern of  arbitrary and illegal arrests of
supporters of Aristide’s Lavalas Movement.  “International human rights
organizations have documented the widespread  intimidation, detention and
killing of
hundreds political prisoners by the  Haitian National Police over the past
year,”
Daniels said. He also denounced the  recent decision by the Supreme Court of
Haiti to vacate the sentences of former  army personnel and members of FRAPH,
like Louis Jodel-Chamblain and Emmanuel  “Toto” Constant, who were
convicted
in 2000 for the 1994 Raboteau Massacre which  occurred in Gonaives. “While
Yvon
Neptune is near death and other political  prisoners languish in jail,
notorious human rights abusers are set free. This is  travesty and truly a
tragic
hour in Haiti’s history.”
CCR has spearheaded efforts to bring  Constant, the leader of FRAPH, to
justice. He currently lives in a Queens neighborhood in New York  City. CCR is
local counsel with the Center for  Justice and Accountability in Doe v.
Constant,
a lawsuit that charges  Emmanuel “Toto” Constant with 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 1990’s. The
Center has
also offered to provide  legal advice counsel to Yvon Neptune’s legal team
if
needed.
***************************************
David Lerner,  President
Riptide Communications,  Inc
270 Lafayette Street,  Suite 1300
New  York, NY 10012
Tel: (212) 260-5000
Fax:(212) 260-5191
_www.riptideonline.com_ (http://www.riptideonline.com/)

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