7504: Fwd: JUSTICE FOR JEAN DOMINIQUE (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: radman <resist@best.com>

To: tttnhm@aol.com
From: Haiti Support Group <haitisupport@gn.apc.org>

Annex C:  Text of Open Letter to President Aristide

[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:  Full name of the organization, contact information for the
organization, name and post of the person authorizing the signature.  Send
this information to:  ekovwajando@yahoo.com]


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 NPL, 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).

Haiti Support Group    (haitisupport@gn.apc.org)