8947: Re: 8908; A costitutional dilemma (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Dr JAAllen <drallen@periodontics.cc>


Subj: Re: 8908:A constitutional dilemma (fwd)

In reading Senou's posting I was puzzled by part of article 115 of the
Haitian constitution. Commenting about the situations under which a member
of parliament loses his/her immunity Senou writes:  " unless he is
apprehended in the act of committing an offense punishable by death."
      This part of article 115 would be in direct contradiction with article
20 which states that
"The death penalty is abolished in all cases."
      Since the death penalty is abolished, what sense could we ascribe to
"offense punishable by death"?
       My question was: is that a simple omission, or are there still
offenses requiring the death penalty in Haiti?
      After reading the French version of article 115 (the original language
in which the constitution was written) there is no mention of the death
penalty.  Instead the same part of the sentence writes: " sauf cas de
flagrant delit pour faits portant une peine afflictive ou infamante". The
translator replaces "afflictive et infamante" by death penalty.
      I know it is not Senou's mistake because when I went online to verify
the quote, I got the same English translation he utilized.  All this to say
that we should not trust all translations.
      Joseph A. Allen DDS, Miami FL