7437: seeking signatories for sign on letter for Justice for Jean Dominique (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Richardsonjb@aol.com

The following letter, which was read over Radio Haiti Inter on March 3 and 
circulated to the Haitian press, will be officially delivered to President 
Aristide at the beginning of April.   If your organization wishes to sign on 
to this letter, contact the Foundation to Echo the Voice of Jean Dominique 
(Fondasyon Eko Vwa Jean Dominique) ASAP with the following information:  a) 
full name of the organization, b) contact information for the organization, 
and c)name and post of the person authorizing the signature.  Send this 
information to:  <<ekovwajando@yahoo.com>>.  If you know others who may wish 
to sign, please pass the letter along...  However, please note that this sign 
on letter is for _organizations_, not individuals.  As for non-Haitian 
organizations (i.e. solidarity groups, human rights groups, etc.), such 
signatures will be accepted and will be put in a second group as solidarity 
signatures...


JUSTICE FOR JEAN DOMINIQUE
APRIL 3, 2000 - APRIL 3, 2001


Port-au-Prince, Haiti, March 3, 2001
Open letter to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide

We, civil society organizations concerned by the growing climate of 
insecurity that has its origins in the arrogant reign of impunity, continue 
to demand justice for Jean Dominique and Jean Claude Louissaint, assassinated 
on April 3, 2000, in the courtyard of Radio Haiti.  Eleven months after this 
contracted double murder, light has yet to be shed on this revolting crime.

The questions which were posed eleven months ago are still being posed with 
the same acuity.  Who carried out the killing?  Who put out the contract?  
Who had interest in silencing Jean Dominique?  Why?  These questions 
interpellate the Haitian justice system and you , Mr. President, who now 
assumes responsibility for the Executive branch.  A deep-rooted tradition of 
impunity hangs over this justice system, from the murder of Antoine Izmery, 
to those of Father Jean Marie Vincent, Father Jean Pierre Louis, Serge 
Villard, Jean Marie Montes, Serge Brière or Senator Yvon Toussaint; from the 
assassinations of hundreds of victims of FRAPH and the army to those of Jean 
Lamy, Chenel Gracien, Ary Bordes or Amos Jeannot, to cite only a few from a 
very long list.

Seven months ago, 11,300 members of this civil society signed a petition 
addressed to Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis.  Thousands of citizens 
have protested, week after week across the country, to demand justice for 
Jean Dominique, this militant in the struggle against exclusion, impunity and 
the arbitrary.  This combative journalist, Mr. President, did not fall under 
the dictatorships which he had so courageously combated, paying for his 
commitment to democracy with imprisonment, the loss of his radio station, and 
two stints in exile.  He was assassinated at a time when a government whose 
efforts for justice and institutional reinforcement he supported promised, 
like you, the reign of law and the end of impunity.

It is imperative that this case-heavily handicapped at the outset by fears, 
tergiversation and professional incompetence and today by a misunderstood 
esprit de corps-be finally solved and that the results of the judicial 
investigation be in all transparency put at the disposal of those who, like 
ourselves, thirst for justice for too long miserly in producing tangible 
results.  The events of recent months have once again confirmed that impunity 
and insecurity are two sides of the same coin.  If justice is not provided 
today to Jean Dominique and Jean Claude Louissaint, other irreplaceable 
beings will be destroyed by the same assassins or by others.  The lives of 
our children hang in the balance.  If impunity continues to be sown, even 
more insecurity will be reaped.  If we don't obtain justice, the train of 
death will come for us all, one by one.  And this country will continue to be 
torn to shreds until we say collectively "never again," unless we obtain 
justice today.

Mr. President, all of the victims and we, the survivors, have a right to this 
justice which will give birth to security.  Jean Léopold Dominique and Jean 
Claude Louissaint certainly had a right to it.

Article 136 of the Constitution makes you, Mr. President, the guarantor of 
stability and the proper functioning of institutions.  Article 145 of our 
Constitution gives you the responsibility for ensuring the execution of 
judicial decisions.  All the means at your disposal should be used toward the 
pursuit and the resolution of this investigation.  Your role is crucial.

Signatories as of March 15, 2001:  Foundation to Echo the Voice of Jean 
Dominique, Workers Antennae (Antenn Ouvrière), Association of Haitian 
Journalists (AJH), National Association of Haitian Jurists, Association of 
Friends and Family of Father Ti Jean Pierre-Louis, Center for Free Enterprise 
and Democracy (CLED), National Confederation of Haitian Educators (CNEH), 
Coordinating Committee of Haitian Unions (COSYNA), Haitian Foundation for 
Social and Evangelical Assistance, Jean-Marie Vincent Foundation,  September 
30 Foundation, Higher Institute for Political and Social Training (ISPOS), 
IRATAM, Justice and Peace, KODENA, Peasant's Committee for Clean Elections 
(KOZEPEP), National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR), Haitian Platform to 
Advocate Alternative Development (PAPDA), Haitian Platform of Human Rights 
Organizations (POHDH), Radyo Kominotè N ap Pote Laviktwa (Port au Prince), 
Radio Pyramide (St Marc), Radio Sèl Raboto (Gonaives), Secretariat for 
Community Support (SAC), Ecumenical Service for Development and Popular 
Education (SEDEP), Society for Social Animation and Communication (SAKS), 
Heads Together Small Haitian Peasants (Tet Kole).