=?X-UNKNOWN?Q?a1141L__Is_Another_Assassination_of_JEAN_DOMI?==?X-UNKNOWN?Q?NIQUE_about_to_Take_Place=3F__Mich=E8le_Monta?==?X-UNKNOWN?Q?s_Dominique_=28fwd=29?=

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Robert Benodin <r.benodin@worldnet.att.net>

Is Another Assassination of JEAN DOMINIQUE about to Take Place?

Published by flashadmin on Thursday, March 7, 2002 – 12:40
Michèle Montas Dominique, Radio Haiti Editorial 3/3/02

Today is March 3, and 23 months ago a journalist committed to the struggle
for change was assassinated. That shameful crime aroused indignation
throughout the entire country. Such an example of growing impunity brings
the attention of the world upon Haiti today.

On the same date last year, on March 3, 2001, twenty-six organizations from
the civil society wrote to the head of the Haitian State. "This committed
journalist," said the letter "was not killed under the dictatorships that he
had so bravely fought. He was assassinated at a time when a government whose
efforts he was supporting toward more justice and stronger institutions was
promising, just like you, the rule of law and the end of impunity... If
justice is not served today, in the cases of Jean Dominique and Jean-Claude
Louissaint, other irreplaceable individuals will be destroyed by the same
murderers or other assassins." And it continued by reminding the duties of
the Chief of State: "Article 136 of the Constitution makes you, Mr.
President, the person responsible for the stability and preservation of
institutions. Article 145 of our Fundamental Law makes you responsible for
ensuring that court orders are obeyed," said the open letter to the head of
the State.

On this same date last year, March 3, 2001, shortly after that document was
broadcasted by our radio station, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide came to
Radio Haiti to express his support publicly for the judicial inquiry and
pledge that the Executive Branch of government would make available to
justice the resources needed to investigate the April 3, 2000 assassinations
at Radio Haiti. Today, 23 months later, facts are speaking louder than
words:

Fact: The Chief of State, who has the direct and exclusive authority to
renew Judge Gassant’s mandate, has still not done so although that judge
diligently and systematically conducted the investigation for 16 months with
courage and competence, not allowing himself to be intimidated by
individuals presumed above the law. No explanation was given to thousands of
persons who, for 23 months, have been calling for justice in this emblematic
case.

Facts: All the resources, i.e. logistical, technical, and financial made
available in this judicial case by the preceding government have been
cancelled. The special and relatively modest funds which had helped in the
success of the trials of Raboteau and Carrefour-Feuille, as well as the
funds allocated, among other resources, to the work of the first two
investigating judges assigned to the murder cases of Jean Dominique and
Jean-Claude Louissaint, allowing them to follow the leads of a difficult
investigation in several areas of the countries, were cancelled; so were the
resources made available for other investigations such as those about the
poisoning of children with diethyl glycol or the kidnapping of baby Nanoune
Myrtil at the General Hospital. Among the measures taken to help in the
investigation about the murder of the most famous Haitian journalist, police
protection was given to the investigating judge and some of the witnesses.
Such help is no longer available.

Fact: The Senate of the Republic, composed exclusively of members of Fanmi
Lavalas, returned the Jean Dominique file to the investigating judge, asking
for a number of documents prior to any decision about lifting Senator Dany
Toussaint’s parliamentary immunity, as requested by Judge Gassant; according
to jurists, the release of such documents would amount to a flagrant
violation of the investigation’s confidentiality. By doing so, the Senate
conferred upon itself the authority of a court, in violation of the
separation of powers.

Fact: The Police, which theoretically answers to the Ministry of Justice,
has taken no action on some arrest warrants. Witnesses who have refused to
appear in court, alleged assassins, or individuals who have openly committed
illegal acts go about their businesses freely, in this case as in others.
Meanwhile, a new judge is assigned to the cases of Jean Dominique and
Jean-Claude Louissaint, not by the Judges’ Association as required by law,
but by the Senior Judge of the Civil Court, whose animosity against Judge
Claudy Gassant is commonly known.

Fact: Will you say to me: The investigation is making progress? Judge Pierre
Josiard Agnant, whose expertise is similar to Judge Gassant’s, heard the
plaintiff and summoned an alleged witness and an individual who had been
charged, based on previous hearings held by Judge Gassant in the course of
the investigation. Senator Toussaint, charged by Judge Gassant, bragged and
claimed victory. It is not a common practice for an individual who has been
charged to select the investigating judge by whom he will be interrogated.
Will you tell me that the investigation is also making headway, since things
are apparently moving? Because of those very facts, serious questions arise
about the political will to render justice to Jean Léopold Dominique, after
23 months and many other assassinations. In the case of Judge Gassant, one
could mention the need for the regime to be careful with a few rich and
powerful party members that the investigating judge had not spared, or with
members of the judicial branch resentful of that judge who spent several
months in the spotlight. In the interest of the State: Appease, in the name
of forced reconciliation, adversaries or possible political rivals within
the same party facing accelerated implosion.

There are still more serious questions arising: Would it be the case that
the healthy wing of this party, who expressed itself for an independent and
transparent judicial investigation, is being sacrificed in favor of those
who constitute a mafia within the party? Putting the "continuing
investigation" on the back burner and forgetting the demands for justice
formulated in the emblematic case of Jean Dominique, is that one of the
prices that the regime must pay? Power at what price?

Seriously, what has been Judge Gassant’s professional mistake, when the
Supreme Court just ruled in his favor over Senior Judge Lise Pierre-Pierre?
Why is the Chief of State keeping so silent? We have the right to know. You
may remember, Mr. President, the three famous "roch dife" (firestones):
Participation, Justice, and Transparency. If it is confirmed, that decision
not to renew the mandate of a competent investigating judge after he
conducted an investigation for 16 months may seem like an easy way out, in
the short term; however, even if it is never explicitly announced, that
decision will exert a powerful effect undermining the credibility of the
Chief of State. How can someone really expect that Judge Agnant, no matter
how competent or dedicated, will manage to bring himself up to date in a
matter of days, and work effectively on a difficult and eminently dangerous
case, while obviously he will have no special police protection? Is it
possible to believe that the purpose is just "the investigation continues?"

In the case of the majority party in the Senate of the Republic, as in the
case of the Police, the inability to impose guidelines and to clean up,
control, and manage is dramatically eroding the authority of the already
weakened State, by projecting the image of a lack of cohesiveness, planning,
and, above all, the absence of political will. But is that just an image?

Today, beyond words and promises, the facts indicate that the balls are
biased and the regime is affected with a dangerous gangrene. Principles and
moral guidelines are compromised every day by political opportunism. Those
ideals shared by Jean, including a generous but rigorous socialism, respect
for liberties within the framework of democracy, nationalist independence,
based on a long history of resistance, those ideals that Jean used to call
"Lavalas" are trampled every day in this balkanized State where weapons make
right, and where hunger for power and money takes precedence over the
general welfare, causing havoc on a party which, paradoxically, controls all
the institutional levers of the country. Our concerns run deep, since the
cracks are widening and the building will eventually collapse over all of
us.

Today, it may be politically incorrect to demand truth and justice, 23
months after the murders of April 3, 2000. All we want is a decent country,
and we will never accept a new assassination of Jean Dominique, even
perpetrated insidiously.

Michèle Montas Dominique
Radio Haiti Editorial 3/3/02