[News] One Down, 700 To Go: Haiti's Political Prisoners

[News at freedomarchives.org]

From: Brianhaiti at aol.com
Date: Sat, 4 Dec 2004 18:43:27 EST
Subject: One Down, 700 To Go: Haiti's Political Prisoners





One Down, 700 To Go


December 2004

By Brian Concannon, Jr.

      A cause for Thanksgiving arrived last Monday, four days late for the 
official celebrations, but still most welcome. Haiti's most famous 
political prisoner, Fr. Gérard Jean-Juste, drove away from the Omega prison 
in Carrefour to the Archbishop's residence in Port-au-Prince.

      During seven weeks of incarceration, Haiti's interim government 
spared no effort to build a case against Fr. Jean-Juste in the Court of 
Public Opinion. Prime Minister Gérard Latortue announced there was a valid 
warrant for his arrest, Justice Minister Bernard Gousse promised evidence 
that the priest was financing violence, the police declared him responsible 
for disturbing the peace and for attacking them. The prosecutor insisted 
Fr. Jean-Juste was an accomplice to two murders.

      The interim government worked just as hard to avoid presenting its 
case in a Court of Law. No judge approved the arrest beforehand, or 
confirmed it afterwards (both Constitutional requirements, in Haiti as in 
the U.S.). Fr. Jean-Juste's legal team- Haitian lawyer Mario Joseph of the 
Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti and Professor William Quigley 
of Loyola University in New Orleans- insisted again and again on their 
client's right to see a judge, to no avail. Police and prison officials 
transported Fr. Gerry from police station to prison to other prisons, but 
never to a courthouse.

      The reasons for the government's fear of the courthouse became clear 
when the case finally went before a judge on November 12. There was no 
arrest warrant. Not a single piece of paper in the file linked Fr. 
Jean-Juste to criminal activity, not a single witness spoke against him. 
The prosecutor still insisted that Fr. Gerry was a double-murderer, but 
could not name the murder victims, or say how they died, or where, or when. 
The government presented nothing to suggest that Fr. Jean-Juste did 
anything other than feed poor children and speak out against torture, 
killing and other violence.

      The judge, one of Haiti's most respected, quickly threw the case out 
and ordered Fr. Jean-Juste released. The government held Fr. Gerry for ten 
more days, but was eventually forced to obey the release order.

      The legal case against Fr. Jean-Juste was no weaker than the cases 
against most of Haiti's other political prisoners (the Catholic Church's 
Justice & Peace Commission estimates there are 700 of them). People 
suspected of criticizing the interim regime or supporting the elected 
government it displaced are routinely arrested, and just as routinely kept 
away from judges who might test the government's accusations.

      If Fr. Jean-Juste can today walk freely, feed children and say Mass, 
it is because an international outcry forced the interim government to 
respect the rule of law in his case. Congresswoman Maxine Waters led 31 
members of the U.S. House of Representatives (including Barney Frank and 
James McGovern of Massachusetts) in urging Secretary of State Colin Powell 
to call for the release of Father Jean-Juste, and "all political prisoners 
and imprisoned community leaders who have not been charged, or are not 
being lawfully detained, under Haitian law."

      Religious leaders like Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot of Port-au-Prince 
and Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit deployed their moral authority 
against the illegal detention. Religious, solidarity and human rights 
groups throughout Haiti, North America and Europe made statements, 
circulated information and lobbied authorities. Most important, hundreds, 
perhaps thousands of ordinary citizens wrote, called or faxed Haitian, U.S. 
and United Nations officials, to let them know they cared about justice in 
Haiti.

      If Prime Minister Latortue counted on Fr. Jean-Juste's release to 
muffle this outcry, he may have acted too late. The case drew world 
attention to all of Haiti's political prisoners. UN Secretary General Kofi 
Annan warned that "the arbitrary detention of people solely for their 
political affiliation is in contravention of fundamental human rights 
principles," and called for the release of all political prisoners.

      On November 10, the countries of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) 
refused to recognize the interim government, declaring that they would not 
``compromise on the fundamental principles of respect for human rights, due 
process and good governance.'' Grenada's Prime Minister Keith Mitchell 
urged Haiti to put ``a stop to the harassment of the political opposition.''

      The interim regime denies there are any more political prisoners, and 
says that the jailed pro-democracy activists are common criminals. But 
everyone from the police to the Minister of Justice joined Mr. Latortue in 
saying the same thing about Fr. Jean-Juste, and in the moment of truth none 
of them produced a grain of evidence.

      World leaders must continue to insist on justice for the 700 
political prisoners that Fr. Jean-Juste left behind, especially as 
International Human Rights Day, December 10, approaches. The rest of us 
must make sure they do so. Members of Congress, Prime Ministers and UN 
Secretary Generals do the right thing much more often when their 
constituents ask them to. Each of us may not have much individual 
influence, but Haitian history shows over and over again, from the 
Revolution to the liberation of Fr. Jean-Juste, that men anpil, chay pa lou 
(many hands make the load light).

Brian Concannon Jr., Esq. directs the Institute for Justice and Democracy 
in Haiti, which represents Fr. Jean-Juste. The Institute's website, 
www.ijdh.org, contains more information on Haiti's political prisoners and 
what you can do about it.


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