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PRESS RELEASE

1 August 2006

Haiti: Bring to trial or release all political prisoners

Amnesty International today called on the newly elected Haitian authorities to bring to trial promptly or release all political prisoners currently held in prolonged pre-trial detention across the country.

Amnesty International believes that around 100 of the more than 2,000 prisoners being held without charge or awaiting trial in Haiti could be political prisoners.

The four were arrested between March 2004 and July 2005 and formally charged in April 2006 under the vague offence of criminal conspiracy (association de malfaiteurs

“A fair and functioning judicial system is essential for Haiti’s future.”

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Aug 20 (IPS) — Government authorities in Haiti face recent criticism over allegations that they continue to jail political dissidents.

According to Amnesty, “the delay in bringing Ronald Dauphin to trial is unjustifiable and is politically motivated”. The organisation “opposes Ronald Dauphin’s continued detention without trial, which is in violation of his rights, and urges the Haitian authorities to release him pending trial.”

Amnesty noted that Dauphin’s health has deteriorated severely in Haiti’s National Penitentiary, which is notorious for the appalling conditions to which it subjects inmates. One of Dauphin’s co-defendants, Wantales Lormejuste, died in prison from untreated tuberculosis in April 2007.

In May 2009, doctors examined Dauphin and called on the authorities to immediately transfer him to a hospital. But today, nearly five and half years since his original arrest, he has not seen his day in court and remains locked up.

Demonstrations in downtown Port-au-Prince, with hundreds of supporters, occur here on a weekly basis, calling for the release of political prisoners. They are organised by local grassroots groups such as the Kolektif Fanmiy Prizonye Politk Yo, Fondasyon 30 Septanm, Organizasyon AbaSatan, and the Group Defans Prizonye Politik Yo.

Last year, the Inter American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) ordered the Haitian government to immediately improve prison conditions. That ruling also ordered the Haitian government to pay 95,000 dollars in damages to Yvon Neptune, one of Ronald Dauphins co-defendants, for numerous violations of his legal rights.

The Haitian government has disregarded the ruling to date. Neptune received a “provisional release” in 2006 after spending two years in prison but the case against him has yet to be dismissed, despite an appeals court order in his favour.

RNDDH received funding from the Canadian government for the prosecution of the supposed perpetrators of the massacre. However, U.N. investigators — despite U.N. hostility to Fanmi Lavalas and support for the coup-installed government that ruled Haiti until 2006 — have not backed the accusations made by RNDDH.

In 2005, the U.N. Human Rights Commission’s independent expert on human rights in Haiti, Louis Joinet, concluded that what happened at St. Marc was that armed groups –supporters and opponents of the Aristide government — clashed and that there were casualties on both sides.

In 2006, Thierry Fagart, head of the Human Rights department of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti, rebuked RNDDH for never substantiating its allegations by even providing a list of the names of the victims.

Amnesty International’s appeal on behalf of Ronald Dauphin also called for an impartial and thorough investigation into the events that took place in St. Marc, and it observed that “The investigating magistrate has only focused on the alleged crimes committed by the group supporting former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide and failed to identify the victims among the former president supporters and their alleged perpetrators.”

In July, the director of RNDDH, Pierre Esperance, told IPS, “In our system, the criminal becomes a victim because the system doesn’t work.”

Brian Concannon of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) agreed that the shortcomings of Haiti’s legal and prison system punish the innocent and guilty alike.

However, Concannon noted that the coup-installed government of 2004–2006 “arrested hundreds of political opponents, some at the insistence of RNDDH. Over five years after the arrests began, not a single political prisoner has been convicted of any crime.”

Working class Haitian activist groups like Veye-yo, which is based in Miami, have been calling on Clinton to work on behalf of Ronald Dauphin as he recently did on behalf of U.S. journalists imprisoned in North Korea. A group of Veye-yo activists assembled just outside the resort calling for such action.

The Haitian government denies that it holds political prisoners. Haiti’s ambassador to the United States, Raymond Joseph, denying that he has even heard of Dauphin, says, “There are no political prisoners in Haiti. The fact that Neptune and the others are out of jail and they were the most prominent and that this person… is still in jail, to me underscores… some people are in jail but not for political reasons, but since they belong to a certain party they are shopping this around and saying ‘its because I belong to this party that I’m in jail’”.

“Because of their strong feelings that President Aristide is the true spokesman for their aspirations they were put in jail on trumped up charges, never a day in court and they are sitting there for years,” he said.

Dauphin learned about Amnesty’s statement on his behalf while listening to a radio interview that his attorney, Mario Joseph (of the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux), was giving about his case.

Dauphin’s wife told IPS, “Ronald was pleased when he heard the news on the radio”. However, she remains distraught over her husband’s situation. His ailing mother, Janne, who is 78, is also suffering immensely wondering what will become of her son.

(END/2009)

January 14, 2009

We have a flash announcement for people who can get to Boston: IJDH Board Member Paul Farmer of Partners in Health, actor Matt Damon, IJDH Director Brian Concannon Jr., and State Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry are participating in a panel discussion moderated by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library on January 27. The panel will focus on improving U.S. Policy towards Haiti under the new leadership in Washington. Tickets are free, but limited, so order them now– click here to reserve a seat.

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Mrs, James, widow of the renowned author CLR James who wrote the book The Black Jacobins stated, “We have an obligation to do something. We can’t just stand by…for example we have to ask the Commissioner for Human Rights and Forced Disappearances of the United Nations to take some action. We have to leave no stone unturned.” Mrs. James continued, “What is the United States doing? The United States has enormous powers to find people, or i think to lose them sometimes…so let us ask them what are they doing with the great resources that they have always had at their disposal. We must demand that he return…we are not satisfied.”

Amnesty International issued a press release this past December 20 calling upon Haitian authorities to step up their efforts to find Mr. Pierre-Antoine and to provide protection to Mr. Mesilien. In their press release Renata Rendon of Amnesty International USA stated, “The Haitian authorities have a responsibility under international law to protect the legitimate rights of human rights defenders to organize and take action without restrictions or fear of reprisals.”

According to Mr. Mesilien a new round of threats against him began on Christmas eve beginning with rumors spread throughout the capital that he had been abducted. “This is how it usually begins.…with rumors that something has already happened to you. This was followed by more direct threats against me and the September 30 Foundation. I am obliged to take precautions for my personal safety and that of my family.” stated Mr. Mesilien during a phone interview yesterday from an undisclosed location in Haiti’s capital.

The Haiti Information Project