25645: Wharram - news - Haiti's ex-prime minister in limbo (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

> From <bruce.wharram@sev.org>


HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section: World


July 9, 2005, 5:45PM

Haiti's ex-prime minister in limbo
Confined alone and on a hunger strike, he waits to see if he will be jailed
or set free
By CAROL J. WILLIAMS
Los Angeles Times

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI - Emaciated from an on-again, off-again hunger strike
and angry about his detention, former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune spends his
days supine on the white-tiled floor of a private villa awaiting his fate.
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For months, U.N. officials, U.S. politicians and diplomats from throughout
the Americas and Europe have urged Haiti's interim government to release
Neptune in recognition of his role in averting large-scale bloodshed last
year when he took up the leadership reins after President Jean-Bertrand
Aristide fled the country.

But Haiti's interim authorities insist the 58-year-old Neptune must be
treated like any other criminal suspect and refer to accusations that he
masterminded a massacre of Aristide opponents in a village near the port
city of St. Marc during the February 2004 rebellion.

That Neptune was held without charges for 11 months and still awaits a trial
date a year after his arrest, they say, differs little from the treatment of
other Haitians confronting a still-dysfunctional judicial system that
developed on the former prime minister's watch.

"The international community knows the truth," Neptune said. "The
ambassadors of the United Nations, France, Canada, the United States ? they
all know the truth. My life, my freedom and my security are in their hands."

Offering few answers
Answering questions with questions as he lay on a mat, his head and
shoulders propped up on three pillows, Aristide's last government chief
declined in a brief interview to clarify his legal situation.

What was he charged with during a closed-door arraignment in St. Marc during
a May 25 hearing?

"Doesn't everyone in the world know that?" he retorted.

In fact, no report was made by the court and he had no lawyer present.

Did a government shake-up in late June, including replacement of the
controversial interim justice minister, give him confidence his case would
be resolved soon?

"Who can expect anything from this de facto government?" he replied.

Was he continuing the hunger strike begun in February and again in April to
win his unconditional release? "What does it look like?" he said.

Though thin and frail, the sole inmate at the $5,000-a-month villa paid for
and guarded by U.N. peacekeepers did not appear near death, as reported by
visitors who saw him in March, including Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif.

An outside influence
Neptune was moved from the dank national penitentiary in Port-au-Prince, the
capital, to a U.N. hospital, and then to the two-story rental in the upscale
district of Pacot for his own protection after gunmen stormed the downtown
prison Feb. 19. Prison guards reportedly managed to spirit away Neptune and
another high-profile inmate.

The interim government of Prime Minister Gerard Latortue has declined to
discuss Neptune's case except to say that he should be treated like any
other criminal suspect.

Last month, 10 Democratic members of the U.S. Congress wrote to Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice denouncing Haiti's justice system as "a sham" and
demanding the removal of interim Justice Minister Bernard Gousse.

Four days later, Gousse resigned.

Gousse had been the most vocal proponent of prosecuting Neptune and other
Aristide lieutenants accused of human rights abuses during their time in
power. His departure spurred rumors that Neptune would be released.

U.S. Ambassador James Foley told Haitians in a radio interview that
Washington wasn't trying to dictate what happened in Haiti. But he, like
other Western envoys, has publicly praised Neptune for his role in guiding
Haiti through the first volatile weeks after Aristide fled.

HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section: World
This article is: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/world/3258944