Inter-Am. Court of Human Rights Denounces HAITI for Pol. Persecution of PM Neptune

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Iachr Denounces Haiti For Political Persecution Of Yvon Neptune
July 25, 2008 By Joe Emersberger
Source: Haitianalysis.com
http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/18256


The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) has made public a 60-
page denunciation of the political persecution that Yvon Neptune, a
former Prime Minister of Haiti, has endured at the hands of the
Haitian government for the past four years. "From the beginning, the
State failed its obligation to protect Mr. Neptune's right to be heard
by a court competent to hear the charges against him, as well as to an
effective recourse," the IACHR ruled. It concluded that Haiti HAS
violated 11 different provisions of the American Convention on Human
Rights by imprisoning Neptune and keeping the case hanging over his
head two years after his release from prison. Whether such high
profile and detailed criticism (first made public in June) will
finally end Yvon Neptune's legal battles remains to be seen.

The IACHR's binding decision was that the Haitian government must
immediately serve an appeals court order that would help end Neptune's
four year legal nightmare, but six weeks after the IACHR ruling, the
order remains unserved. The IACHR also gave Haiti a year to pay
$95,000 USD in costs and damages to Neptune, and two years to
drastically improve prison conditions in Haiti. The Haitian
government's silence and inaction has prompted Neptune to cautiously
speak out about his precarious legal situation.

Yvon Neptune served as Prime Minister of Haiti from 2002-2004 in the
democratically elected government of former President Jean Bertrand
Aristide. After Haiti's February 29, 2004 coup d'état, the unelected
Interim Government of Haiti (IGH), backed by the UN Security Council,
assumed power for two years and imprisoned hundreds of political
opponents, especially officials and supporters of the Famni Lavalas
(FL) party founded by Aristide. It also stacked the judiciary and
police with its loyalists.

Neptune's plight began on June 27, 2004, when he turned himself in to
the police after hearing on the radio that an arrest warrant had been
issued against him. He was accused of participating in the "La Scierie
Massacre," an alleged attack by Lavalas supporters in the La Scierie
neighborhood of St.Marc. Two years after the arrest, the Haitian
Appeals Court prosecutor conceded that there was no credible evidence
of Neptune's involvement. Nevertheless, Neptune would spend 25 months
in prison, including nearly a year in the National Penitentiary which
is notorious for its appalling conditions. The case against Neptune
collapsed further when subsequent investigations, including one by the
United Nations, concluded that the "La Scierie Massacre" was in fact a
battle between two armed groups, with casualties on both sides.

In July of 2006, two months after a democratically elected government
finally took over from the IGH, Yvon Neptune was granted provisional
release for health reasons. The presidential election of 2006 was won
by Rene Preval in a stunning rebuke to those who backed the coup of
2004, including the UN Security Council. Like Neptune, Preval was a
former Prime Minister under Aristide. Repression against Lavalas eased
after the election, but the impact of the IGH continues to make itself
felt.

The charges against Yvon Neptune remain in force to this day because
the Preval administration has refused to serve a Haitian appeals court
order that finally dismissed the case in April of 2007. The Preval
government told the IACHR that it does not have the power to serve the
appeals court order (without clearly specifying who did have the
power). The IACHR dismissed the government's argument out of hand.
"Officials serve appeals court orders every day." explained Brian
Concannon, Yvon Neptune's lawyer before the IACHR, "The government
could easily do that tomorrow."

While Yvon Neptune continues to be hounded for his noninvolvement in a
debunked "massacre", he is better off than his codefendant, Ronald
Dauphin, who is still in prison after four years, with no trial
scheduled.

Father Gerard Jean-Juste, another prominent Lavalas activist who
became a political prisoner under the IGH, did not have charges
against him dropped until June, more than two years after Preval's
election.

Why have Lavalas activists been persecuted years after an election
that should have put an end to their troubles? A compelling
explanation was offered by US journalist and filmmaker Kevin Pina who
lived and worked in Haiti for years:

"After initially boycotting the elections, Lavalas finally supports
Preval's candidacy in 2006 with clearly stated objectives in mind.
First and foremost was to stop the relentless political repression and
persecution they suffered after Aristide was ousted in February of
2004. Secondly, they wanted to free all of the Lavalas political
prisoners..., lastly but equally important, was their call for the
return of Aristide from exile. None of these demands have been fully
realized because Preval was eventually saddled with what the UN and
the international community tout as a 'coalition government'. This
concept of 'coalition' forced Preval to abandon the demands of his
electorate...."

Under pressure from the US and its allies, Preval's government
appointments included prominent supporters of the coup and the IGH -
people like Raymond Joseph, who remained Haiti's ambassador to the US,
Maggy Durce, Minister of Commerce, and Marie-Laurence Jocelyne
Lassegue, Women's Condition Ministry.

There were also major problems with the elections that were finally
held in 2006. Aside from the widespread repression of Lavalas
supporters and leaders, compelling evidence of fraud intended to block
Preval's victory emerged during the presidential election. A shortage
of voting centers, especially in Lavalas strongholds, also imposed
major sacrifices on Haiti's poorest voters. At the presidential level
these barriers were overcome by Preval's name recognition and the
sheer determination of his supporters - who staged massive protests
when evidence of fraud surfaced. However, at the legislative level the
repressive tactics of the IGH deprived Preval of significant
parliamentary support. In fact, Preval was forced to mount a
remarkably low key campaign in order to avoid violence against his
supporters - something lesser known candidates could not afford to do.

Brian Concannon has argued "IGH holdovers in the executive branch may
be less important than the ones in the judiciary." His point is
underscored by the fact that Judge Cluny Pierre Jules, who played
major role in the persecution of Yvon Neptune, is an IGH appointee who
remains on the bench, as does Judge Peres-Paul, responsible for the
imprisonment of Father Gerard Jean-Juste.

Aside from IGH appointed judges, the vehemently anti-Lavalas Haitian
human rights group, the National Network for the Defense of Human
Right (RNDDH), relentlessly pursued Yvon Neptune. Led by Pierre
Esperance, RNDDH has received over a hundred thousand dollars from the
Canadian government since 2004 while it was still known as the
National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR). The funding requests to
Ottawa explicitly budgeted for the prosecution of Yvon Neptune and his
codefendants. During an earlier period NCHR was funded by the US
government through its New York office. In March of 2004, the IGH
formally agreed to arrest anyone that Pierre Esperance's group
denounced as a criminal. The warrant issued against Yvon Neptune
listed all the allegations that RNDDH made against him. RNDDH not only
opposed Yvon Neptune's provisional release in 2006, it even objected
to special medical provisions which were made for him while he was
incarcerated. RNDDH did not reply to a request made by HaitiAnalysis
for a comment on the IACHR ruling. However, an RNDDH representative
was quoted in the July 11 issue of The Nouvelliste, a Haitian
Newspaper, stressing that the IACHR did not rule on the truth or
falsehood of the allegations made against Yvon Neptune. However, RNDDH
have never produced a formal report substantiating its allegations
against Neptune and others, or even a list of the names of the alleged
victims in St. Marc, despite requests made the head of the UN Human
Rights Commission in Haiti.

By telephone, Yvon Neptune told HaitiAnalysis that he found the IACHR
ruling "encouraging" but that he "would not venture to guess" why the
Preval administration has still not served the court order dismissing
the case. Neptune recalled a "strange" and "misinformed" public
statement that Preval made in September of 2007 in which the President
claimed that the Haitian Senate would fulfill its responsibilities
over the case. Neptune explained that under the Haitian constitution
the Chamber of Deputies must first decide if allegations against a
high public official are serious enough to warrant referral to the
Senate which then functions as a special court to try the case. If the
Preval Administration finally serves the appeals court order
dismissing the case against Neptune then the State Prosecutor or any
of the plaintiffs could possibly choose to appeal to Haiti's Supreme
Court. They would have five days to do so or the case would be closed
for good.

Asked if a shift in Preval's loyalties has taken place since the
election of 2006, Neptune acknowledged that "many facts raise serious
questions" about Preval's commitment to the people who elected him.
However, Neptune hastened to add that he cannot answer those "serious
questions" with any degree of confidence. Neptune stressed that he has
been very isolated from public life even after his release from prison
and that he can only use media reports to judge Preval's actions. Is
the lingering repression against Lavalas leaders aimed at keeping
Aristide out of Haiti? Neptune's answer is that there are certainly
people "within the machinery of government" who would resort to that.

Brian Concannon believes that Haiti is slowly rebuilding but that the
damage done by the IGH to the judiciary and police will take five to
ten years to repair. Asked if the IACHR's decision will finally prompt
the dismissal of the case against Yvon Neptune, Concannon replied "I
would be surprised if the government does not at least serve the order
soon. Then again, I am surprised they didn't do it 15 months ago."



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[magbana]

1. NOW, Justice for the Others

Now that the IACHR has established what criminal scumbags the US installed as the "interim gov't." after the US kidnapped President Aristide, it is now time to proceed with getting some justice for the thousands illegally imprisoned and exiled during the two-year rule of PM Gerard Latortue. Unfortunately, it is too late for the 8,000 - 10,000 Aristide supporters who were murdered by the Haitain National Police and UN peacekeepers over the same time period.