[News] Haiti: Stop the new wave of violent repression
News at freedomarchives.org
News at freedomarchives.org
Mon Oct 4 15:43:41 EDT 2004
HAITI ACTION COMMITTEE
URGENT ACTION ALERT: October 4, 2004
STOP THE NEW WAVE OF VIOLENT REPRESSION.
A massive, violent upsurge in repression has occured in Haiti during the
past four days, aimed at silencing the Lavalas movement and supporters of
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in Haiti. On Thursday September 30,
Haitian police fired upon thousands of unarmed demonstrators who called for
the return of constitutional order. On Saturday, police surrounded a
private radio station where three leading Lavalas parliamentarians had
denounced the violence on the air. After a six hour standoff police
stormed the building and arrested them without warrant. Dozens of other
Lavalas activists have been illegally arrested in the past few days, and
the police have conducted raids on the populous neighborhoods of
Port-au-Prince, which are the backbone of the Lavalas movement. Bel Air
(-- located in the center of the city) is under virtual siege.
The human rights report below from the Institute for Justice and Democracy
in Haiti provides further details.
We urge you to call, fax, and write the US and UN officials listed below.
Demand that they stop this wave of violent repression and protect the
rights of Haitian citizens.
FAX OR CALL Ambassador James Foley and UN Officials in Haiti!
U.S. Ambassador to Haiti: James B. Foley
PHONE: 011.222.0200 OR 011.222.0354
FAX: 011.509.223-9038 OR 011.509.223.1641
UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)
PHONE: 011.509.244.9650.9660
FAX: 011.509.244.9366/67
** Kofi Annan's Special UN Envoy to Haiti: Mr. Juan Gabriel Valdes
** UN Military Commander in Haiti: Lt. General Augusto Heleno Ribeiro Pereira
** UN Commissioner for Human Rights in Haiti
Please Fax the MINUSTAH office Attention to the 3 listed above. Better yet,
send 3 separate letters addressing them individually.
Contact Haiti Action Committee for more information:
<http://www.haitiaction.org/>www.haitiaction.org
<mailto:haitiaction at yahoo.com>haitiaction at yahoo.com 510.483.7481
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti
P.O. Box 745, Joseph, OR 97846
(541)
432-0597 <http://www.ijdh.org/>www.ijdh.org
<mailto:info at ijdh.org>info at ijdh.org
Haiti Human Rights Alert: Illegal Arrest of Political Leaders
October 2, 2004
On Saturday October 02, 2004, Haitian police forcibly entered Haiti's Radio
Caraibe and arrested three former parliamentarians from the Fanmi Lavalas
party who had criticized the Interim Government during a radio
program. They arrested a fourth former legislator who protested the
arrests. The warrantless arrests were illegal and a clear violation of the
detainees' freedom of association and of expression. They take place in
the context of a wave of police persecution of human rights critics, and
verbal attacks on critics by Haiti's Prime Minister.
The three arrested for criticizing the government were former Senators Yvon
FeuillÈ and Gerard Gilles, and former Deputy Rudy HÈrivaux. The three form
the Communications Commission of the Fanmi Lavalas party, and all three are
prominent critics of human rights violations carried out by Haiti's
Transitional Government. Lawyer AxËne Joseph, also a former Deputy, was
arrested when he protested the other arrests.
FeuillÈ, Gilles and HÈrivaux had gone to Radio Caraibe to participate on
the station's 11AM "RanmasÈ" program, along with Evans Paul and Himmler
RÈbu, both prominent critics of the Lavalas party. The program's subject
was violence accompanying recent anti-government demonstrations. FeuillÈ,
Gilles and HÈrivaux denounced the violence, and condemned the police for
firing on unarmed demonstrators. Before the program ended, heavily armed
police officers from the Port-au-Prince police headquarters and specialized
units surrounded the station and announced their intention to arrest the
three parliamentarians.
Radio Caraibe's Station Manager, Patrick Mossignac, refused to allow the
police entry into the station, citing the Haitian Constitution's protection
of free speech. Himmler RÈbu and Evens Paul remained in the station to
protest the police action. A standoff ensued, until just before 6 PM (the
Constitution prohibits arrests, even with a warrant, after 6 PM). At that
point Judge Gabriel Amboise, a Justice of the Peace, instructed the police
to cut the locks and make the arrests. The three Parliamentarians did not
resist arrest, and were taken by the police from the Station Manager's
office to the Port-au-Prince police holding cells. Lawyer AxËne Joseph,
also a former Deputy, was arrested earlier in the day when he arrived to
protest the other arrests.
Lawyers for the arrestees demanded that Judge Amboise produce a warrant, as
required by Haiti's Constitution. The Judge refused, claiming that a
verbal order from the Commissaire du Gouvernement (Chief Prosecutor) gave
him the authority to make the arrest. He also refused to state the charge
against the defendants. Throughout the day, however, government and police
sources made announcements purporting to link FeuillÈ, Gilles and HÈrivaux
to recent violence. The police also claimed that a car belonging to one of
the three contained automatic weapons, but dropped this claim when
journalists and human rights observers on the scene insisted that the
police, not the parliamentarians, had brought that car.
The October 2 arrests follow a sharp upturn in attacks against critics of
the interim government's human rights policies. On September 7, the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued a statement expressing
concern "over several key areas in which the basic rights and freedoms of
Haitians remain weak and imperiled." On September 16, Radio Caraibe aired
an interview with Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, in which Latortue
complained that human rights criticism was making his relations with donor
countries difficult. Later that day police officers raided the offices of
the Confederation of Haitian Workers (CTH) labor union and arrested nine
union members, all without a warrant. The official justification for the
arrest was that the defendants were "close to the Lavalas
authorities." Hours later, masked men in military attire attacked the
office of the Committee for the Protection of the Rights of the Haitian
People (CDPH).
The parliamentarians join many other officials of Haiti's Constitutional
government in jail, including former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune and former
Minister of the Interior Jocelerme Privert and former Delegate Jacques
Mathelier. All are held illegally: neither Prime Minister Neptune nor
Minister Privert have ever been brought before the judge who issued their
arrest warrant. Mr. Mathelier was brought before a judge, who ordered his
liberation on July 12, but prison authorities transferred Mathelier out of
that judge's jurisdiction.
On Thursday, police interrupted a legal demonstration commemorating the
anniversary of Haiti's September 30, 1991 coup d'etat. Human rights
observers accompanying the demonstration reported that police fired on the
march, after several attempts to disperse it failed. On the morning of
October 1, interim Prime Minister Latortue conceded in a radio interview
that the police had shot at protesters and individuals had been killed, and
indicated that the authorities would take action against further protests.
Many media reports claim that demonstrators retaliated against the police
on September 30, killing three. But before the demonstration started, the
police had reported three police officers had been attacked in a firefight
with a crime gang early that morning, with one killed and two
wounded. The Interim Government claims to have recovered three bodies of
decapitated officers, but did not announce their names and the
Port-au-Prince morgue had not received the bodies of any of the three as of
4 PM on Friday. Media reports also say that the violence occurred when
demonstrators tried to pass before the National Palace. In fact, the
unprovoked shooting happened several blocks beyond the Palace, at the Rue
des Casernes.
The end of last week saw a sharp increase in warrantless arrests and
shootings of Lavalas supporters by police and anti-Lavalas paramilitary
groups. IJDH has received reports from all over Port-au-Prince, especially
in poor neighborhoods. The cases that we have been able to confirm so far are:
September 30:
Marguerite Saint-Fils, 35, shot in her home by police from the CIMO unit
during the course of an operation in La Saline
.
Accel Savain, age 23 a Lavalas leader. Police searched his home without a
warrant, and although they found no illegality, they arrested him after
finding a T-shirt supporting President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Amel Prince, 25; Lamarre Prince, 21; Amboise Frantz, 20; Wilfred Amboise,
32; Jean Noel, 14; Laurent Yves, 21; Johny Rudolph, 23; Sonel Laguerre, 26;
Michelin Michelle, 26, all arrested on Boulevard LaSaline, on September 30,
all without warrants.
October 1: Wendy Manigat, age 15, shot and killed by police during an
operation in Bel-Air
Roland Braneluce, 28, shot by police during a demonstration at Rue Tiremasse.
Lesly Gustave, a member of the National Committee of Reflection of Famni
Lavalas, was arrested at approximately 4 PM on October 1, without a
warrant. Police are reportedly searching for the remaining members of the
committee.
In addition to police persecution, residents of Cite Soleil report that
anti-Lavalas armed gangs have been targeting Lavalas supporters over the
last few days. Those killed include:
Maxo CassÈus, a leader of a grassroots organization in Cite Soleil, killed
on September 30.
Piersine AdÈma, a resident Soleil 9 in her sixties, killed while sitting
in front of her house, reportedly by the same group that killed Maxo CassÈus.
The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org
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