[News] Haiti trial a sham
News at freedomarchives.org
News at freedomarchives.org
Wed Aug 18 11:55:01 EDT 2004
From: Brianhaiti at aol.com
Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 21:47:09 EDT
Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti
August 17, 2004
Contact Information:
Brian Concannon Jr., Director
BrianHaiti at aol.com
www.ijdh.org
541-432-0597
541-263-0029
IJDH Human Rights Alert: Haiti Assassination Trial An Affront to
All Those Who Have Worked and Died for Justice
In the early hours of August 17, a sham trial in Port-au-Prince acquitted
notorious Haitian rights abusers Jackson Joanis and Jodel Chamblain of the
1993 murder of businessman Antoine Izmery. Neither the judiciary nor the
prosecution made even the minimum effort required by law to pursue this
important case. The absence of effort combined with top Haitian officials'
public support for Chamblain and his colleagues compels the conclusion that
Haiti's interim government staged the trial to deflect criticism of its
human rights record without alienating its military and paramilitary
allies. The trial is an affront to the thousands of people who have worked
and sacrificed for justice in Haiti over the last fifteen years.
I. Background
Antoine Izmery, a prominent supporter of President Aristide, was
murdered on September 11, 1993, during Haiti's de facto military
dictatorship (1991-1994). Mr. Izmery had organized a mass at
Port-au-Prince's Sacre Coeur church, to commemorate the anniversary of the
1988 St. Jean Bosco Massacre. Soldiers and paramilitaries dragged Izmery
out of the packed church, in full view of the Haitian and international
media, the diplomatic community in Haiti, and UN/OAS Human Rights
Observers, and shot him on the sidewalk outside. Both Joanis and Chamblain
were convicted, in absentia for murder at the 1995 trial of the Izmery killing.
Jackson Joanis was a Captain in the Haitian Army, and head of the
Anti-Gang police, the de facto period's most feared army unit. Joanis fled
to the United States, but was deported back to Haiti in 2001, because of
his record of political persecution. He has also been formally charged in
the 1994 assassination of Fr. Jean-Marie Vincent, and was identified as a
major human rights abuser in reports by Amnesty International, Human Rights
Watch, the United Nations, the Organization of American States and the U.S.
Government.
Jodel Chamblain was the co-founder and chief of operations of FRAPH
(Front Révolutionnaire pour l'Avancement et le Progrès Haïtiens), Haiti's
most notorious death squad. He was also convicted in absentia for murder
in the 2000 Raboteau Massacre trial. After the 1994 return of Haiti's
constitutional government, Chamblain fled to the Dominican Republic, where
he trained with other paramilitaries and former soldiers in exile. He
returned to Haiti in February as a leader of the insurgency that attacked
towns in Haiti's north, killing police officers, destroying prisons and
terrorizing the civilian population.
The insurgency helped dislodge Haiti's constitutional authorities,
who were replaced by a U.S.-backed unconstitutional government. Insurgency
gangs still controls large areas of Haiti, and refuse to disarm. Both the
insurgency and the allied de facto authorities have engaged in widespread
attacks against those perceived to support Haiti's constitutional
government, including hundreds of killings, as well as illegal political
arrests and detentions, and rapes, beatings and other torture.
Joanis and Chamblain are the only two human rights abusers from the
de facto regime who have been pursued by the justice system, even though
many others had been convicted, or escaped. These include a dozen people
convicted in person at the Raboteau Massacre trial, including FRAPH leader
Jean Pierre, alias Tatoune, and Army Captain Cenafils Castera, as well as
three members of the de facto High Command convicted in absentia for
Raboteau and deported from the U.S. Other prominent fugitives from justice
include former dictator Prosper Avril, found civilly responsible for
torture by a Miami court, and Henri-Robert Marc-Charles, now a top advisor
in the Ministry of the Interior, both ordered imprisoned pending trial for
the 1990 Piatre peasant massacre.
The justice system itself has been attacked by the insurgents, and
ignored by the de facto authorities. In March, the judge who convicted
Chamblain in the Raboteau case was beaten by men claiming to be retaliating
for Chamblain's Raboteau conviction, and hospitalized. In April, Chamblain
boasted to reporters that he was acting as a "judge" in Cap Haitian. On
July 1, ANAMAH the Haitian national judges' association, issued a press
release deploring the increase in the politicization of justice and illegal
arrests over the previous four months. Later that month, when a judge in
Les Cayes ordered the release of political prisoner Jacques Mathelier, the
authorities transferred the prisoner to Port-au-Prince, where he remains
incarcerated.
II. Pretrial Proceedings
Both Joanis and Chamblain had been convicted in absentia for
Izmery's murder in 1995. Under Haitian law, those convicted in absentia
have the right to a new trial, but they must be arrested immediately upon
entering Haitian territory. Joanis was arrested when he arrived from the
U.S., but escaped from prison on February 29, when the insurgents attacked
the National Penitentiary. He turned himself in on August 9 in order to
participate in the trial.
Following international criticism of the de facto authorities'
alliances with known human rights abusers, Chamblain publicly turned
himself in on April 22. At the time, Minister of Justice Bernard Gousse
admitted that the surrender had been negotiated, and declared that
Chamblain "had nothing to hide." This sent a signal, especially to
prosecutors who are appointed by the Minister, that Mr. Gousse had already
decided the outcome. A month earlier, Prime Minister Gerard Latortue
praised Chamblain and his colleagues as "Freedom Fighters."
Haiti's Code of Criminal Procedure required that the cases against
Chamblain and Joanis be assigned to an "Investigating Magistrate" (Juge
D'Instruction) who reviews all relevant evidence, interrogates the suspects
and any potential witnesses, and issues a formal charging document called
the ordonnance. The Prosecutor (Commissaire du Gouvernement) is then
entrusted with preparing the case and presenting it to the jury, including
contacting witnesses and ensuring their presence at trial, and presenting
all documentary evidence.
In this case, no investigating magistrate questioned Joanis after
his surrender, and there is no indication that Chamblain was questioned
either. Officials simply re-filed the ordonnance from July 1995, without
adding information obtained over the last nine years from interviews with
defendants or other means. They did not add any additional documentary
evidence to the case file, not even the section on the Izmery killing from
Haiti's Truth and Justice Commission report. Haitian and international
human rights groups that are known to possess information relevant to the
case or to have access to witnesses were never contacted for the investigation.
The Prosecutor made almost no effort to obtain witness
testimony. Many witnesses known to have information were not contacted at
all. The prosecutor claims to have sent witness notices to only eight
people, and these were sent on August 13, the last weekday before
trial. The law requires witness notices to be served at least three
business days before trial. Witnesses were not asked whether they would be
willing to testify, or if they still recalled the events of Izmery's
assassination eleven years ago.
The Izmery trial was informally announced on August 12, three
business days before commencing. This violated several notice requirements
of the procedural code, and provided the defendants with a cause for appeal
had they been found guilty. The illegally short notice also limited the
ability of national and international human rights groups to monitor or
criticize the proceedings.
III. The Trial
The trial began on Monday, August 16, and ended before dawn on
Tuesday, August 17. Only one prosecution witness appeared, and he admitted
that he was not, in fact, an eyewitness. The prosecutor was obviously
unfamiliar with the file, and appeared to be going through the motions,
with no attempt to present a convincing argument to the jury. Many
observers and journalists left the trial in the early evening, afraid of
venturing out on the capitol's streets after dark.
Amnesty International referred to the trial as "an insult to
justice" and a "mockery."
IV. The Next Step
Both Chamblain and Joanis remain in prison, awaiting trials on
other charges. Chamblain's lawyer predicted a new trial on his in absentia
Raboteau conviction within a month. The Minister of Justice predicted that
Chamblain may be pardoned, even if he is convicted again. Joanis has been
formally charged for the 1994 killing of Fr. Jean-Marie Vincent, but that
trial has not been announced.
V. The Fight For Justice in Haiti
Haiti's Truth and Justice Commission estimated that 5,000 people
were killed along with Antoine Izmery during the 1991-1994 dictatorship,
for supporting justice and democracy. The Director of the Port-au-Prince
morgue reported disposing of over 1,000 bodies in the month after the
departure of Haiti's constitutional government this year, many of them
bearing the signs of torture and execution.
During more than nine years of elected governments in Haiti
(1994-2004), thousands of people worked tirelessly for justice. Victims
who survived and the families of those who did not survive organized to
pressure the justice system. They marched, protested, kept vigils, wrote
letters, sang songs and told and retold their stories. Others, from Haiti
and abroad, participated within the structures: they created, ran and
attended the Judicial and Police Academies that trained a new generation of
professionals. Still others documented abuses for the Truth and Justice
Commission, the United Nations, the Organization of American States and for
human rights organizatons in Haiti and abroad. Many put their lives and
reputations on the line, by participating in prominent trials as witnesses,
complainants, judges, prosecutors, lawyers and jurors.
The dividends from these sacrifices and efforts were less than most
had hoped for. Progress on prominent cases was frustratingly slow, and
some controversial cases stopped completely. But justice was served under
the democratic governments: the better trained prosecutors, judges and
police officers did their jobs imperfectly, but more justly than anyone had
before in Haiti. Two prominent human rights trials in the year 2000 rose
to international standards, and exceeded any complex trial in Haiti before
or since. Investigations into peasant massacres and political rapes
proceeded slowly, but proceeded. Each successful trial built upon its
predecessors, and set a new, higher standard for justice in Haiti.
Today's trial of Chamblain and Joanis indicates a full return to
Haiti's historical injustice, and the elimination of the foundations
erected with so much sweat and blood. While political prisoners with no
evidence or accusations in their case files continue to fill the National
Penitenciary, convicted murderers are acquitted in a charade trial, their
files chock full of evidence but un-opened.
History shows that Haitians will not accept this return to injustice, and
will keep fighting against it. But they cannot prevail on their own, and
history shows that the international community is as likely to acquiesce in
the new order as it is to vigorously protest. It is therefore incumbent
on those of us who can safely advocate for human rights in Haiti to do so
persistently. Failing to speak out betrays the sacrifices already made,
and encourages future atrocities.
For more information:
WWW.IJDH.ORG (reports on current human rights conditions in Haiti, legal
analyses)
WWW.AMNESTY.ORG (reports on current human rights conditions in Haiti,
including press releases following the trial and Chamblain's March arrest)
WWW. NCHR.ORG (press releases from Haiti (8/12/04) and New York (8/13/04)
regarding the trial of Chamblain and Joanis).
Brian Concannon Jr.
Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti
The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org
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