Version Francaise BUREAU DES AVOCATS INTERNATIONAUX

3, 2ème rue Lavaud, Port-au-Prince, Haïti

B.P. 19048

244-7987/2447988

email : avokahaiti@aol.com

 

 

Press Notice- December 20, 2005

 

The Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI), directed by Attorney Mario Joseph, strongly condemns the forced retirement of five Justices of the Cour de Cassation (Supreme Court) of the Republic of Haiti and considers the action a serious attack against the independence and integrity of the Judicial Branch and of the Constitution.

 

The firings constitute a flagrant violation of articles 174 and 177 of the Constitution of 1987, which prescribe that the Justices of the Cour de Cassation are named for a term of ten (10) years, are irremovable, and cannot be dismissed except for a legally established breach of duty or suspended following an indictment. They cannot be retired during their term except in the case of properly documented permanent physical or mental incapacity. The BAI emphasizes that the Executive Branch has no role in making such a documentation, even less in the absence of any medical report.

 

The BAI points out that the nomination of five new judges was illegal, and consequently void, being contrary to article 175 of the Constitution, according to which justices of the Cour de Cassation are named from a list submitted by the Senate of the Republic. No nomination may be made without Parliamentary participation, even in a transition period.

 

The BAI is concerned by the fact that the five new judges took the oath of office in the National Palace, contrary to the principles of separation of powers and article 129 of the Decree of August 22, 1995 on Judicial Organization, which stipulates that the Cour de Cassation sits at the Palace of Justice. Furthermore, the swearing in at the National Palace violated the principle of public access to official events, established by article 180 of the Constitution and by article 61 of the above-mentioned decree.

 

The BAI observes that the strike by judges and other judicial personnel declared by the National Association of Haitian Magistrates (ANAMAH) has paralyzed the judicial system. The BAI is especially preoccupied by the fact that the first victims of this paralysis are those detained in the country’s jails, over ninety percent of whom have never been tried. The BAI appeals to the judges to consider that the detainees should not pay the price of the unconstitutional acts of the Executive Branch and its frustrated allies. Is now a good time for a strike, when the famous cases of Raboteau, Piatre, Jean-Rabel, Jean Dominique, Brignol Lindor etc. to this day lie dormant in the desk drawers of the country’s courthouses?

 

The BAI deplores that ANAMAH and the entire judicial corps did not protest with the same fervor against other interferences and attacks on judicial independence in the recent past, such as the letter from former Justice Minister Bernard Gousse, of December 30, 2004 to the Chief Judge of the Port-au-Prince trial court. The letter ordered the Chief Judge to remove all the case files in the possession of Investigating Magistrates Jean Sénat Fleury and Brédy Fabien, after Judge Fleury had ordered the liberation of Fr. Jean-Juste, and Judge Fabien had accorded provisional release to Harold Sévère, Jaques Anthony Nazaire, Paul Keller and Rospide Pétion. Did we not see, less than a year ago, Minister Bernard Gousse revoke by a simple circular a restraining order on the offices of the BNC of Cap-Haitien issued by the Chief Judge of the Trial Court, without any protest by the Magistrates of ANAMAH? The BAI also asks: do the magistrates go on strike to protest against the practice of illegal arrests made without any judicial warrant and outside of any hot pursuit justification, where the police substitute themselves for the justice system? What is said against the corruption that has infected the justice system?

 

According to the BAI, the justice system cannot be surprised by the decision to fire five judges of the Cour de Cassation after having, for months, shown complaisance towards the Executive Branch, even approved some of its many arbitrary acts. Examples of this complaisance are manifest in the decision of the Cour de Cassation annulling the judgment of the Trial Court of Gonaïves in the Raboteau massacre case. In order to do so, the Cour de Cassation contradicted a series of decisions that had become settled law: its own earlier decision, issued in 2000, which had confirmed a decision of the Gonaïves Court of Appeals, which itself had confirmed a court order to send the case before a jury. The BAI observed the same complaisance in the procedures and the liberation of Louis Jodel Chamblain, who, before turning himself into the justice system gave a press conference with the Minister of Justice at his side, which implied the influence on the government throughout the whole procedure.

 

In conclusion, the BAI believes that that the protests and the work stoppage of the Magistrates of ANAMAH and other judicial personnel to defend and rescue the integrity of the Judicial Branch come much too late. Justice died well before now.

 

 

FOR THE BUREAU DES AVOCATS INTERNATIONAUX :

 

 

 

 

Mario Joseph, Esq.