[News] Haiti update: Reactions and developments in the Arrest of Yvon Neptune
News at freedomarchives.org
News at freedomarchives.org
Tue Jun 29 11:44:54 EDT 2004
HP News - June 28, 2004 - English translation (Unofficial)
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Reactions to the imprisonment of former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune
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Port-au-Prince, June 28, 2004 -(AHP)- The Fanmi Lavalas Political
organization situated the imprisonment of former Prime Minister Yvon
Neptune within the context of the wave of political persecution launched
against leaders and members of the party Monday.
Mr. Neptune has been imprisoned since Sunday at the National Penitentiary
in the center of Port-au-Prince, after he turned himself in to the police.
A pro-government radio station had announced the day before that a warrant
had been issued against him in connection with an alleged massacre
perpetrated, according to the accusation, on February 11 2004 in a district
of Saint-Marc known as la Scierie.
Gilvert Angervil, a Fanmi Lavalas spokesperson, denounced what it termed
the indecency of the interim government, which has been furiously
persecuting supporters of Fanmi Lavalas, he said, while the authors of
crimes perpetrated against supporters of the ex-opposition continue to
enjoy total impunity.
Gilvert Angervil said that the imprisonment of former Prime Minister Yvon
Neptune and other high-level officials of Fanmi Lavalas is part of a
campaign by the Latortue government to persecute people close to the party
to please traffickers of all kinds.
For its part, the National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR), which is
reportedly the source of the accusations against Mr. Neptune, expressed
pleasure at the incarceration of the former prime minister, describing the
action as a positive step for Haitian justice.
In an interview Monday on Radio Solidarité, NCHR Executive Director Pierre
Espérance said that he has never made an accusation against Yvon Neptune,
but he should provide answers to the questions of the Haitian justice
officials because he was in Saint Marc 48 hours later.
"I never accused Yvon Neptune by name as being someone involved in the
massacre at la Scierie", he insisted.
In a press release, the U.S. Embassy in Haiti called on the interim
authorities to open a fair, impartial investigation to prove the
responsibility of Mr. Neptune in the massacre at la Scierie, even though,
it said, the Lavalas government was deeply involved in political violence
in general.
The Embassy's note included a request to the Haitian authorities to respect
the dignity of the former prime minister and above all to guarantee his
security.
The Embassy also pointed out the crucial and courageous role played by Mr.
Neptune to assure a constitutional and peaceful succession after the
departure into exile of Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
The September 30 Foundation denounced the conduct of the Latortue
government which in its view is doing everything it can to throw into
prison or continue the imprisonment of high-level officials and supporters
of Fanmi Lavalas.
A spokesperson for the Foundation, Gilbert Elméus, declared he could not
understand the interim government's actions, consisting of persecuting
political adversaries, he said, while guaranteeing total impunity for the
authors of the murders of numerous police officers and members of civil
society and the pillaging of several police stations during the
insurrection by the former opposition.
Gilbert Elméus called upon the interim authorities to provide proof that a
massacre actually took place at la Scierie and that former prime Minister
Yvon Neptune was actually involved in such a massacre.
According to Ronald St-Jean, the director of the Committee to Defend the
Rights of the Haitian People (CDPH), the alleged massacre at la Scierie is
no more than a fabrication aimed at justifying the campaign of persecutions
launched by the Latortue government against leaders and activists of Fanmi
Lavalas.
Political leaders of the former opposition including Evans Paul (K-Plim),
secretary General of the KID party (Democratic Unity Convention), expressed
satisfaction at the imprisonment of Mr. Neptune.
Supporters of RAMICOS and the former opposition in general in Saint-Marc,
also welcomed the hunting down of partisans of Fanmi Lavalas.
At the same time, a pro-government radio station in Port-au-Prince
broadcast that alongside the good news, there is also bad news.
In this regard, the station claimed to have information that a plot has
been hatched from Africa designed to bring about the failure of the
transition of the interim government of Gérard Latortue.
AHP June 28, 2004 3:40 PM
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The government prosecutor of Saint-Marc pays a visit to former Prime
Minister Neptune
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Port-au-Prince, June 28, 2004 -(AHP)- Leslie Jules, the pubic prosecutor of
Saint-Marc, visited former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune Monday at the
National Penitentiary, where he has been incarcerated since Sunday.
Mr. Jules also visited former Interior Minister Jocelerme Privert and
former Deputy Amanus Mayette. The prosecutor said he came to learn about
the treatment being given to the three Lavalas officials.
However he furnished no details regarding the date when former Prime
Minister Yvon Neptune would appear before a judge in connection with the
accusation that he was involved in an alleged massacre that is supposed to
have taken place on February 11 in the La Scierie district of Saint-Marc.
In related news, Mr, Neptune refused to meet Sunday with Pierre Espérance,
the director of the National Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR). Mr.
Neptune said that Mr. Espérance had made no effort to meet with him at any
previous time to talk about the question of la Scierie.
According to Gilvert Angervil, a Fanmi Lavalas spokesperson who spoke with
Mr. Neptune, Pierre Espérance has been bent on exclusively defending the
position of Ramicos, an armed organization allied with the former
opposition.
Pierre Espérance has stated that 50 people were killed in the alleged
massacre at la Scierie. When asked why the bodies were not discovered, Mr.
Espérance had sought to convince people that they bodies as well as their
bones had been eaten by hungry dogs.
Several foreign journalists and members of international human rights
organizations who traveled to the scene following the statements made by
NCHR have said they had not found any evidence of a massacre.
Some foreign journalists had said "only five bodies were found, without
there being any information to explain under what circumstance they were
killed".
AHP June 28, 2004 3:40 PM
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Latortue is "saddened" by the imprisonment of Yvon Neptune, after having
accused Mr. Neptune of involvement in the most recent violence that has
taken place in Haiti
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Port-au-Prince, June 28, 2004 -(AHP)- Interim Prime Minister Gérard
Latortue, said he is sad that former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune now finds
himself in prison.
Gérard Latortue sought to make people believe that the arrest of Mr.
Neptune has nothing to do with politics but is instead a case with a
judicial basis.
He said he hopes that justice officials will treat this case promptly and
with all appropriate seriousness with regard to the rights of the detainee.
Mr. Latortue, responding to a question about the killing of the director of
Air-France and the fire that destroyed several businesses on the Rue des
Fronts-Forts, tried to blame these acts on President Aristide and former
prime Minister Yvon Neptune, suggesting that these acts resulted from
their call to the population for a peaceful mobilization to bring about
respect for human rights.
Gérard Latortue accused Jean-Bertrand Aristide and Yvon Neptune in
particular of wishing to destabilize the country.
Shortly before a warrant was issued to arrest Mr. Neptune, he wrote a
letter to U.S. President Georges Bush, French President Jacques Chirac, and
to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, denouncing the maneuvers of the interim
government and its supporters aimed at assassinating him or throwing him
into prison.
Yvon Neptune had especially condemned the the persecution and threats that
placed his own security in doubt.
He affirmed that he has been constantly harassed by armed anti-Aristide
groups and by the interim government.
He also denounced the fact that some officials of the provisional
government have associated themselves with anti-Lavalas groups in an effort
to neutralize him.
AHP June 28, 2004 11:35 PM
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Family and friends of Lavalas activist Annette Auguste continue to denounce
the maneuvers of the interim government to keep Sò Anne in prison illegally
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Port-au-Prince, June 28, 2004 -(AHP)- Those who are close to the Fanmi
Lavalas activist Annette Auguste, who has been incarcerated for nearly two
months, continue to denounce what they call maneuvers by the interim
government to keep her in prison illegally.
Wilfrid Lavaud, the husband of Annette Auguste, labeled as pure lies and
fabrication the statements broadcast last week by a Port-au-Prince radio
station in which someone named Sonia Desrosiers said she had attended a
ceremony at the home of President Aristide in March 2000 when a baby
(belonging to Nanoune Myrtyl) was sacrificed.
Wilfrid Lavaud declared he finds many contradictions in the statements of
Sonia Desrosiers, who says she has had the privilege of meeting the interim
Minister of Justice, Bernard Gousse.
He observed that Sonia Desrosiers mentioned a telephone number that was
allegedly used by Sò Anne to invite her to the ceremony that is supposed to
have been held in March 2000, even though the telephone assigned to that
number was not purchased until 2003, he said.
Mr. Lavaud also said he noticed that Sonia Desrosiers claims that during
that ceremony in the year 2000, the participants called for respect for the
five year term in office of President Aristide , even though it was René
Préval who was president in the year 2000.
The husband of Sò Anne insists that the statements of Sonia Desrosiers were
provided to her and are in line with the type of statements made last year
by individuals named Johnny Occilius and Michard Mercier.
Mr. Lavaud pointed out that a nurse who was working the night the baby of
Nanoune Myrtyl disappeared was arrested and later released under pressure
and that she is the one who should be asked to answer questions as to what
happened to this baby, he said.
"The cruel person always makes a mistake", added Mr. Lavaud, denouncing
what he called the clumsy maneuvers aimed at keeping Sò Anne in Prison.
AHP June 28, 2004 12:20 PM
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