June 6, 2007

Half-Hour for Haiti: Haiti’s Forgotten Political Prisoners

Update: Sorry we missed last week’s alert- we had a busy travel schedule. Our travels did bear some fruit: on May 22, Judge Abraham Gerges of New York threw out the favorable plea agreement for former Haitian death squad leader Emmanuel Constant and reinstated all charges against him. The judge based his decision on evidence submitted by The Center for Constitutional Rights, The Center for Justice & Accountability, and the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux on Constant’s human rights violations in Haiti. Judge Gerges called the Department of Homeland Security’s request for Constant to be sentenced to time-served (10 months) “a travesty.”  The judge noted that he had “received hundreds of faxes from various individuals.” So mesi anpil (thanks a lot) to everyone who pitched in on that! To read the decision, press releases and news articles, see www.HaitiJustice.org.

Fr. Gerard Jean-Juste’s legal struggle continues. Fr. Gerry is still in Florida, undergoing treatment for leukemia. The unfounded murder and kidnapping charges against him were dismissed 18 months ago, when the prosecutors could produce no evidence against him. But his prosecution on gun-possession charges continues, even though the prosecutor has conceded that they too are unfounded. The charges are based on handguns provided to Fr. Jean-Juste’s security detail by the Haitian government. There are no allegations that Fr. Jean-Juste himself ever possessed the guns, that their possession by anyone was illegal, or that the guns were ever used for a crime. The guns and the security detail were paid for by the Haitian government (Fr. Jean-Juste was a government consultant at the time), and the guns have been returned to the government.  

On Monday May 28, the Court of Appeals refused to dismiss the weapons charges without hearing from Fr. Jean-Juste, who is under doctor’s orders not to travel to Haiti. As Fr. Jean-Juste’s lawyer, Mario Joseph, reminded the court, the burden of proof is on the government. If the prosecution cannot present any evidence of wrongdoing after three years of pursuit, the court is obligated to dismiss the case.  Government prosecutor Patrick Pierre Fils agreed and asked the court to dismiss the charges. But the court insisted that it needed to hear Fr. Jean-Juste, and set a hearing for November.

Coming Attractions: Seeding Hope in Haiti, a Pax Christi speaking tour will visit the U.S. from June 16-July 23.

This week’s alert: Over the past year, we’ve all invested a lot of energy to free prominent political prisoners from Haiti’s jails, which has helped end the unjust and inhuman imprisonment for over a dozen men and women.  But we cannot forget that the majority of political prisoners in Haiti are poor, and unknown outside of their neighborhood. Their cases are rarely discussed by human rights groups or in the media, but their imprisonment is just as unjust. And over 100 of them are still there.

Almost a year ago, last June 13, our alert called for support for threegrassroots activists from rural Petit-Goave, Excellent Laviolet, Aline Joseph and Raoul Orphé, all arrested in connection with a 2002 killing of members of an anti-Lavalas group. We protested their imprisonment because 1) the arrests were illegal- normal procedures under Haitian law were ignored; 2) the warrants in the case were issued three years after the crime (and for Laviolet and Joseph, after the arrests), but shortly after Mr. Laviolet gave a radio interview criticizing the judge in the case, Judge Alex Clédanor for abuse of his judicial authority; and 3) the arrestees were active in pro-Lavalas organizations, while Judge Clédanor is a leading member of an anti-Lavalas political group.

Five months later, on November 8, 2006, the case had not moved forward, and judge Clédanor had left the courthouse for a job with the UN without, according to the chief judge, leaving the case file. So we wrote to the Minister of Justice, complaining about the illegalities and delays in the case. The judge was eventually replaced, in April 2007, and in March the case against Aline Joseph was dismissed. But Excellent Laviolet (461 days) and Raoul Orphé (421 days) remain in prison, still without formal charges. The judge has not even ruled on their request for pre-trial release, filed in August 2006.

Don’t let these two political prisoners be forgotten. Please write again to Minister of Justice, René Magloire, urging him to instruct his prosecutor in Petit Goave to make every effort to end the unjust prosecution of Mr. Laviolet and Mr. Orphé. A sample letter is below, feel free to customize it. You may send yours directly to Me. Magloire by regular mail, or to us by fax: (206) 350-7986 (a U.S. number) or email: avokahaiti@aol.com, and we will ensure that they are delivered.  
____________________________________________  
Me. René Magloire
Ministre de la Justice et de la Sécurité Publique
Ministère de la Justice
18 Avenue Charles Sumner
Port-au-Prince, Haïti
Re: Political Prisoners Excellent Laviolet and Raoul Orphé
 
Dear Mr. Minister:
I am writing on behalf of two political activists from Petit-Goave, Excellent Laviolet (arrested February 5, 2006) and Raoul Orphé (arrested on April 11, 2006). As you know, both were arrested illegally and imprisoned by Juge d’Instruction Alex Clédanor. The arrests were made and warrants issued three years after the alleged crime, but shortly after some of the accused had publicly criticized Judge Clédanor for abuse of his judicial authority. Both have spent over 421 nights in prison without being formally charged with a crime.

I would like to thank you for your efforts to install a new Juge d’Instruction in Petit- Goave.  But two months after the new judge’sinstallation, there has been no progress for Mr. Laviolet or Mr. Orphé. Their August 2006 request for pre-trial release has not even been decided.

I urge you to take every action to ensure that the violation of the constitutional and human rights of Mr. Laviolet and Mr. Orphé ends immediately. Please instruct your prosecutor in Petit-Goave to recommend immediate pre-trial release for both men, and unless there is compelling evidence of their responsibility in the case file, to recommend dismissing the charges.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.
________________________________________________________________
For more information about the Half-Hour for Haiti Program, the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, or human rights in Haiti, see www.HaitiJustice.org. To receive Half-Hour for Haiti Action Alerts once per week, send an email to HalfHour4Haiti@ijdh.org.