7907: Kidnappers beat, rob, threaten and finally free Ivorian , journalist (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Max Blanchet <maxblanchet@worldnet.att.net>

1.   Haiti: Kidnappers beat, rob, threaten and finally free Ivorian
journalist


Haiti: Kidnappers beat, rob, threaten and finally free Ivorian journalist
BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; May 16, 2001

Text of report by Haitian Metropole radio on 15 May

The Ivorian journalist, Abdoulaye Guedeouengue, who was abducted last week
in Port-au-Prince, has been freed by his kidnappers. The sum of 450,000
dollars that he was carrying the day he was kidnapped was used as ransom.
Guedeouengue was badly beaten and mistreated by his kidnappers. He is now
receiving appropriate treatment. The bandits ordered him to stop the
investigation that he was conducting into the murder of Jean Dominique,
according to his wife. [Dominique was the director of Radio Haiti Inter. He
and the caretaker of that radio station, Jean-Claude Louissant, were killed
on 3 April 2000. The main suspect, Wilner Lalane, died in unclear
circumstances. His body disappeared from the morgue at the General
Hospital]. His wife spoke at the microphone of Jean Numa Goudou:

[Mrs Guedeouengue - recording] Indeed, yes, they freed my husband last night
at 1030 p.m. [local time].

[Goudou] Did you pay the abductors a ransom and under what condition did
they free your husband?

[Mrs Guedeouengue] You know that they took the money my husband was
carrying. Because, you know, he had left the country to go home. He had
450,000 dollars in his possession, because we were planning to start a
business in Haiti.

[Goudou] They took all of it?

[Mrs Guedeouengue] They took all the money and his car.

[Goudou] Is he all right?

[Mrs Guedeouengue] He is safe. But the only thing is that they beat him. So,
he had to go to the doctor this morning.

[Goudou] Did they hit him hard? Was he injured?

[Mrs Guedeouengue] He has a scar on his left side and on the side of his
right leg.

[Goudou] No broken bones?

[Mrs Guedeouengue] No. I do not think so because he can walk. But he limps a
little.

[Goudou] Apart from that, does he feel well?

[Mrs Guedeouengue] Yes, apart from that he is doing fine.

[Goudou] So, are you thinking of going back to Cote d'Ivoire?

[Mrs Guedeouengue] No. We are not going back to Cote d'Ivoire. Today, we are
going to Petit-Goave. Next week we shall go to Cote d'Ivoire. But we want to
live in Haiti.

[Goudou] [Question indistinct]

[Mrs Guedeouengue] No, no. We know very well that a journalist does not live
an easy life. It is not easy but we shall go on living and working as usual.

[Goudou] Can you tell us which news agency your husband works for?

[Mrs Guedeouengue] AMINA and L'Express.

[Goudou] What was he working on now? On what file?

[Mrs Guedeouengue] Jean Leopold Dominique.

[Goudou] Has he had time to complete his investigation?

[Mrs Guedeouengue] No, not yet.

[Goudou] Is he going to go on with the investigation?

[Mrs Guedeouengue] I think so. That is the reason why he was asked to stop
the investigation.

[Goudou] Who asked him to do that?

[Mrs Guedeouengue] The kidnappers.

Source: Radio Metropole, Port-au-Prince, in French 1700 gmt 15 May 01

/BBC Monitoring/ © BBC.