In Haiti, victims of ex-paramilitary look to U.S. for justice

AP

International Herald Tribune

May 24, 2007

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti: Malya Villard was laying in bed when masked killers from the hated FRAPH paramilitary group kicked down her door and gang-raped her. Fifteen years later, Villard is still looking for justice.

But on Tuesday, when a New York judge rejected a plea deal in a fraud case that would have deported former FRAPH leader Emmanuel "Toto" Constant to face murder and torture charges in Haiti, Villard was pleased. She and other victims of the group fear that if Constant is sent back to Haiti, he would escape from prison or simply walk free.

"There's no justice in Haiti, only impunity," said Villard, a widow and mother six from Port-au-Prince's rough Martissant slum. "At least in America, he might be punished."

In the gallery of Haitian human rights abusers, few are as feared as Constant, whose Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti, or FRAPH, waged a campaign of terror during the 1991-94 military regime that ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in a coup. Human rights groups claim FRAPH raped, tortured and killed Aristide supporters by the thousands.

"I would like him to pay for what he did, but if he comes back here, they'll put him in jail for a little while and then let him out," said Eramithe Delva, who was raped in 1992 by five FRAPH soldiers who also severely beat her husband.

The mortgage fraud charge against Constant carries a maximum penalty of five to 15 years in New York state prison, meaning he would not return to Haiti for some time. Even if he does, few believe the burly 50-year-old would receive punishment commensurate with his alleged crimes under Haiti's broken and corrupt court system.

"There's a little chance of the Haitian justice system being able to try Toto Constant," said Anne Sosin, director of Haiti Rights Vision, a local human rights group. She noted that past figures from Haiti's bloody coup period have walked free.

But others are urging President Rene Preval's government to speed Constant's return, arguing his case could benefit the judiciary. A successful prosecution of Constant, some say, could boost Haitians' confidence in a justice system burdened by bribe-taking judges and an enormous case backlog.

"Toto Constant should be tried in Haiti so that the Haitian people can regain trust in the judicial system," said Pierre Esperance, director of Haiti's National Human Rights Defense Network.

Preval's government so far has shown little interest in trying Constant on Haitian soil.

"For us it's not one of the biggest priorities. We have so many things to do in this country that ... it's not a big preoccupation," Haitian Foreign Affairs Minister Jean Renald Clerisme told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Constant initially proclaimed he had no fear of coming back to Haiti but later told the judge he would likely be assassinated at the airport.

Asked why it's taken so long for Constant to be deported, Clerisme replied: "I don't know, maybe he's powerful."

The son of a military officer, Constant emerged as FRAPH's leader after Aristide was toppled in 1991. Constant says he worked for the CIA.

After U.S. forces restored Aristide to power in 1994, Constant fled to the United States and was allowed to live freely, despite Haitian efforts to have him face justice for leading FRAPH's terror campaign. Haitian officials suspected the United States did not deport Constant because he knew too much about CIA activities in Haiti, but the U.S. intelligence agency has publicly denied any role in antidemocratic actions in this country.

Villard said she is still haunted by her ordeal and wants to see Constant rot in prison — an American one.

"Every time I see his face I relive what happened to me," she said from a Port-au-Prince outreach center where she counsels other rape victims. "If he comes back to Haiti, he could rejoin his supporters and the repression will start all over again."