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<b>From: </b>erzilidanto@yahoo.com <br>
<b>Date: </b>May 1, 2005 1:02:53 PM PDT <br>
<b>To: </b>ezilidanto@lists.riseup.net <br>
<b>Subject: [ezilidanto] If Neptune is flown into exile, he wants the
world to know, it was a kidnapping <br>
</b>Yvon Neptune reportedly will be forced into exile <br>
by Marguerite Laurent, May 1, 2005 <br><br>
If Prime Minister Yvon Neptune is flown out of Haiti, without his
liberation orders and unconditional released having been signed by a
Haitian judge, he wants the world to know he did not leave Haiti
willingly - that he was forced into exile. It was simply another
kidnapping. <br><br>
According to an AP article, written by Ariana Cubillos, dated today May
1, 2005, a Western diplomat who spoke on conditions of anonymity reported
that Prime Minister Yvon Neptune is flying into exile. Meanwhile, Radio
Kiskeya reported that Neptune already had been flown out late Saturday
after doctors said a hunger strike had left him near death.” <br><br>
The same AP article reports “An official at Port-au-Prince's
international airport said they were on standby for the event but had not
yet received confirmation from officials in Haiti's interim government,
who could not be reached for comment.” <br><br>
Yvon Neptune is too weak to speaka for himself right now. He is
critically ill from the hunger strike resume on April 17 and literally
cannot speak. His family fears his death is imminent. <br><br>
We, at the Haitian Lawyers Leadership spoke to Yvon Neptune’s family and
friends in Haiti just minutes ago to get confirmation of this report of
"going into exitle" and one and all maintain that 1) Yvon
Neptune is still in prison in Haiti 2) He has not been told anything
about going into immediate exile for humanitarian purposes and 3) He
would never agree to do so. Thus, if Neptune is flown out of Haiti, he
would not be doing so willingly. Again, Mr. Neptune’s family stresses
that Yvon Neptune would never go into exile; that he has repeatedly
maintained this position: That he is an innocent man, wrongfully accused
of a massacre that the UN, the international press and reputable human
rights organization say did not happen. Additionally, this information we
can personally corroborate because Prime Minister Neptune, told
Marguerite Laurent, in early March, 2005, when we visited him at the
prison, that he only wishes to live as a free and innocent man in Haiti
and for the interim government to stop persecuting him and guarantee his
safety. Yvon Neptune's position explained to Congresswoman Waters and us
at HLLN, when we visited him on March 7, 2005 has not changed. He does
not wish to go to exile, or to leave Haiti as a marked criminal. He has
spent ten (10) months in the miserable, horrific Latortue jail in Haiti
without being charged or seeing a judge with his lawyer present.
<br><br>
Again, The AP report above cited is wrong. Yvon Neptune is still in
Haiti. He is critically ill because of the hunger strike and his family
fear he will not live much longer. <br><br>
However, they stress that the only thing that would legitimately put
Neptune out of prison is a liberation order. That he will not leave
prison unless a judge has signed his liberation order and acknowledged
his innocence of all crimes. If, Neptune is flown to the Dominican
Republic, or anywhere else, as reported by AP, for any purposes
whatsoever, and a liberation order acknowledging his wrongful
incarceration has not been signed, then Prime Minister Neptune, through
his family, wants the world to know, he was forced to leave, that he was
kidnapped out of Haiti against his will and sent to exile in the same
fashion as President Aristide; in the same fashion, as when the
authorities, last Friday on April 22, 2005, had forced him, without his
lawyer, to go to St. Marc where even the judge did not know he was coming
and reportedly refused to see him. (See below, Green Left Weekly article
by Alison Dellit - "Former PM on hunger stike") <br><br>
If Neptune is flown out of Haiti today or at any other time without a
complete exoneration already signed, then he wants the world to know he
was forced to leave Haiti by the UN/US/Canada/France and their
Latortue-supported death regime against his will. (See also Letter From
Yvon Neptune from Jail dated April 20, 2005) <br><br>
"The hunger strike I began on February 20 was aimed at forcing the
<br>
government to set me free and to stop being the cause of my <br>
insecurity. <br><br>
Because of a promise the government had made that it was going to <br>
liberate me, I agreed to put an end to my hunger strike and to go to
<br>
the Argentine Hospital under the jurisdiction of the MINUSTAH/United
<br>
Nations." <br><br>
Right now, in the room of Yvon Neptune, we have been told a group of
Argentanian doctors have entered Neptune rooms and we are being told, via
telephone, that they want to give him a "serum" to force him
out of the prison. He is screaming, in only the whisper that he is
capable of uttering: NO, NO, NO. I've given no one authorization to sent
me into exile. I will die with my dignity or be set free from this prison
without conditions." <br><br>
Marguerite Laurent, Esq. <br>
Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network <br>
May 1, 2005 <br>
********* <br><br>
For more Background Information go to: <br>
<a href="http://www.margueritelaurent.com/campaigns/campaignone/presswork/neptune.html">
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/campaigns/campaignone/presswork/neptune.html</a>
<br><br>
Please write letters denouncing this other kidnapping before it is
COMPLETED and demand the immediate and unconditional release from prison
of Prime Minister Yvon Neptune and all the political prisoners in Haiti.
<br><br>
Sign the petition demanding release of Yvon Neptune at: <br><br>
<a href="http://www.haitiechange.org/avis.htm">
http://www.haitiechange.org/avis.htm</a> <br><br>
<br><br>
***** <br><br>
<br><br>
Posted on Sun, May. 01, 2005 <br>
Ex-Haiti PM reportedly flying into exile <br>
ARIANA CUBILLOS <br>
Associated Press <br><br>
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - The former prime minister under ousted President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide is flying into exile after months in detention, a
Western diplomat and a radio station reported Sunday. <br><br>
Former Premier Yvon Neptune, who had been held without charge for 10
months in connection with political killings during the February 2003
rebellion that ousted Aristide, will be flown to the neighboring
Dominican Republic by helicopter on Sunday, the diplomat said. The
diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity because a formal announcement
has not been made. <br><br>
Independent Radio Kiskeya reported that Neptune already had been flown
out late Saturday after doctors said a hunger strike had left him near
death. The discrepancy could not immediately be reconciled. <br><br>
An official at Port-au-Prince's international airport said they were on
standby for the event but had not yet received confirmation from
officials in Haiti's interim government, who could not be reached for
comment. <br><br>
Neptune initially was considered a traitor by Aristide loyalists when he
handed power to an interim president, Boniface Alexandre, within days of
Aristide's Feb. 29 flight as rebels led by former soldiers were
converging on the capital. <br><br>
At the time Neptune resisted pressure from diplomats and interim
government officials, installed after U.S. troops arrived, to go into
exile. <br><br>
After his arrest in June, he became a rallying point for both militants
demanding the release of hundreds of Aristide officials and loyalists
jailed without charge, as well as for human rights activists demanding he
be tried. Aristide is in exile in South Africa. <br><br>
The interim government of Prime Minister Gerard Latortue accused Neptune
of orchestrating the killing of Aristide opponents in the western town of
St. Marc during the rebellion, allegations he denies. <br><br>
Latortue had resisted months of international pressure to release
Neptune. <br>
****** <br>
Green Left Weekly <br>
<a href="http://www.greenleft.org.au/index.htm">
http://www.greenleft.org.au/index.htm</a> <br><br>
May 4, 2005 <br><br>
<br>
HAITI: Former PM on hunger strike <br>
by Alison Dellit <br><br>
<br>
A little more than a year after US Marines kidnapped democratically <br>
elected Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and installed <br>
opponent Gerard Latortue as an “interim” prime minister, the world’s
<br>
fourth poorest country remains in chaos. Although Aristide’s Lavalas
<br>
Movement is the most popular political party, the government remains
<br>
in power through the force of the Haitian police force, backed by <br>
United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) forces.
<br><br>
The Haitian police have been widely condemned for human rights <br>
abuses. Amnesty International has documented numerous arbitrary <br>
arrests and summary executions of Lavalas members. On April 29, <br>
Haitian police shot dead nine protesters at a march demanding the <br>
return of Aristide. <br><br>
Adding to police violence are the terrorisation tactics of the former
<br>
Haitian Army — CIA-trained thugs whose invasion provided cover for <br>
the coup against Aristide. These “soldiers” have been responsible for
<br>
rape and murder rampages through the slum areas that constitute <br>
Aristide’s support base, with neither the police nor MINUSTAH troops
<br>
able or willing to stop it. <br><br>
Meanwhile, disease and starvation stalk the country’s population and
<br>
a US$1 billion aid package promised after the coup by Western <br>
countries has failed to materialise. <br><br>
Aristide has refused to accept the legitimacy of the interim <br>
government, and it is unclear whether Lavalas will agree to <br>
participate in elections scheduled for later this year, given the <br>
extremely violent political climate. <br><br>
Four months after his installation, Latortue had Yvon Neptune, the <br>
prime minister under Aristide, arrested and charged with murder. On <br>
February 11, 2004, Neptune fought and defeated an armed gang-led <br>
uprising near the village of Saint-Marc. While Aristide’s opponents <br>
claim 50 people were killed by those under Neptune’s command, the UN
<br>
independent expert on human Rights in Haiti concluded “there was no <br>
massacre”. However, Latortue has pushed for his prosecution. <br><br>
In mid-February, Neptune commenced a hunger strike, which continued <br>
until he was taken to a United Nations-run hospital on March 20. On <br>
April 17, however, he recommenced the hunger strike. By April 29, <br>
members of the Committee to Protect the Human rights of the Haitian <br>
People reported that he was “closer to death than to life”. He wrote
<br>
this letter to his supporters on April 20. (Translation by Serge <br>
Bellegarde, Guy Antoine and Marilyn Mason.) <br><br>
From the time I left the prime minister's residence on March 12, 2004
<br>
... the source of my insecurity had been the government ... The <br>
government deprived me of my freedom of movement, together with my <br>
freedom to speak freely, with all the length and breadth and depth <br>
that the Constitution allows for this right to be exercised. <br><br>
The hunger strike I began on February 20 was aimed at forcing the <br>
government to set me free and to stop being the cause of my <br>
insecurity. <br><br>
Because of a promise the government had made that it was going to <br>
liberate me, I agreed to put an end to my hunger strike and to go to
<br>
the Argentine Hospital under the jurisdiction of the MINUSTAH/United
<br>
Nations. <br><br>
Even while in that hospital, however, my insecurity continued because
<br>
of the government's continuing refusal to set me free. <br><br>
That is why, while I was in the hospital managed by the <br>
Argentinians/MINUSTAH, I continued to resist so that the United <br>
Nations would require that the government free me and stop <br>
threatening my life. It was in the context of the dilatory tactics of
<br>
this wicked government that I was obliged to resume my hunger strike
<br>
with even more force. <br><br>
My friends, listen. This plot aims at keeping me in prison by all <br>
means for as long as possible; that is one objective. The second <br>
objective is to take me, no matter what the conditions, to Saint-Marc
<br>
to continue the political humiliation. <br><br>
Friends, listen: while I was already into the fifth day of my <br>
complete hunger strike, on April 21, having given me guarantees that
<br>
nothing would happen to me, the United Nations forces took me, <br>
against my will, to a supposed prison villa in Pacot, close to the <br>
General Administration and Inspection Headquarters of the police, <br>
despite the fact that I had explained to the UN representative that <br>
this was a trap that the de-facto government had set up to implement
<br>
the death plan it had for me. Above all, I told them that I would <br>
maintain my hunger strike in this supposed prison villa as long as I
<br>
was not set free. <br><br>
My friends, on April 22, early in the morning, a team of seven to 10
<br>
executioners I recognised from the prison system burst in on me to <br>
take me to Saint-Marc. I felt my life was in danger in the presence <br>
of these executioners; I told them I had not eaten, nor drunk <br>
anything in five days, and I asked them to leave me in peace because
<br>
I was weak. When they picked me up with force, put me outside, and <br>
tried to handcuff me, I resisted for my life and I bit one of the <br>
many arms trying to force handcuffs on my wrists. <br><br>
They drove me to Saint-Marc. I threw up all along the way. When we <br>
arrived in Saint-Marc, nothing was done. Supposedly, Mrs Cluny Pierre
<br>
Jules, the supposed investigating judge, declared that she was not <br>
coming because she had not been previously notified. <br><br>
When the UN representative received news of what the conditions were
<br>
in Saint-Marc and of what kind of state I was in, he sent a <br>
helicopter to pick me up and take me back to Port-au-Prince, where I
<br>
received some care in a UN ambulance which escorted me back to the <br>
supposed prison villa in Pacot. <br><br>
I am continuing my hunger strike, so that I can regain my freedom and
<br>
my security and so that the de facto government will stop threatening
<br>
my life, while it continues to trample on my dignity. <br><br>
Yvon Neptune <br><br>
Former prime minister <br><br>
Member of the Lavalas Movement <br><br>
Political prisoner <br><br>
At the Prison in Pacot, Port-au-Prince <br><br>
<br>
From Green Left Weekly, May 4, 2005. <br><br>
<br>
******* <br>
Forwarded by the Haitian Lawyers' Leadership Network <br>
****** <br><br>
"Men anpil chay pa lou" is Kreyol for - "Many hands
make light a heavy load." <br><br>
See, The Haitian Leadership Networks' 7 "Men Anpil Chay Pa
Lou" campaigns to help restore Haiti's independence, the will of the
mass electorate and the rule of law. <br>
<a href="http://www.margueritelaurent.com/law/lawpress.html">
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/law/lawpress.html</a> <br>
******************* <br>
Here is what you can do to help us help the people of Haiti: <br>
*************** <br>
Action Requested from Haiti solidarity groups and activists for justice
and democracy <br>
********************** <br><br>
Please circulate our mailings and posts to your mailing list and e-mail
contacts. Subscribe by writing to: Erzilidanto@yahoo.com <br><br>
Read, adopt and circulate the Haiti Resolution (see below) from the
Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network and/or the Porto Alegre Declarations
on Haiti adopted at the World Social Forum in 2005:
<a href="http://www.margueritelaurent.com/pressclips/declaration.html">
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/pressclips/declaration.html</a>
<br><br>
Circulate the human rights reports, especially the latest Miami Law
Center report: <br>
<a href="http://www.margueritelaurent.com/campaigns/campaignone/human_rights_reports/c1humanrightsreports.html">
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/campaigns/campaignone/human_rights_reports/c1humanrightsreports.html</a>
<br><br>
Do Press Work: Join our letter writing campaigns to help free the
political prisoners in Haiti, stop the persecution of Haiti's most
popular political party and restore Constitutional rule. Write a letter,
call the media, fax, - See our Press Work page for sample letters and
contact information: <br>
<a href="http://www.margueritelaurent.com/campaigns/campaignone/presswork/pressreleases_hll.html">
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/campaigns/campaignone/presswork/pressreleases_hll.html</a>
<br><br>
HLLN Networkers are urged, in addition to the general writing campaigns
and e-mail circulations, to also consider volunteering as primary
coordinators/contributors to one of our seven campaigns:
<a href="http://www.margueritelaurent.com/campaigns/campaigns.html">
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/campaigns/campaigns.html</a> <br><br>
Support our lawyers in Haiti and HLLN projects, such as, our partnership
with AUMOHD, the young human rights lawyers in Haiti who are defending
the defenseless poor whose only crime is that they voted for Lavalas,
supported Constitutional rule or are resisting a return of the bloody
U.S.-trained Haitian army and US-sponsored dictatorship. For information
on AUMOHD, go to:
<a href="http://www.april6vt.org/">http://www.april6vt.org/</a> <br>
********* <br><br>
Support the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Haiti Resolution: <br><br>
1. Demand the return of constitutional rule to Haiti by restoring all
elected officials of all parties to their offices throughout the country
until the end of their mandates and another election is held, as mandated
by Haiti's Constitution; <br><br>
2. Condemn the killings, illegal imprisonment and confiscation of the
property of supporters of Haiti's constitutional government and insist
that Haiti's illegitimate "interim government" immediately
cease its persecution and put a stop to persecution by the thugs and
murderers from sectors in their police force, from the paramilitaries,
gangs and former soldiers; <br><br>
3. Insist on the immediate release of all political prisoners in Haitian
jails, including Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, Interior Minister Privert
and other constitutional government officials and folksinger-activist Sò
Ann; <br><br>
4. Insist on the disarmament of the thugs, death squad leaders and
convicted human rights violators and their prosecution for all crimes
committed during the attack on Haiti's elected government and support the
rebuilding of Haiti's police force, ensuring that it excludes
anyone who helped to overthrow the democratically elected government or
who participated in other human rights violations; <br><br>
5. Stop the indefinite detention and automatic repatriation of Haitian
refugees and immediately grant Temporary Protected Status to all Haitian
refugees presently in the United States until democracy is restored to
Haiti; and <br><br>
6. Support the calls by the OAS, CARICOM and the African Union for an
investigation into the circumstances of President Aristide's removal.
Support the enactment of Congresswoman Barbara Lee's T.R.U.T.H Act which
calls for U.S. Congressional investigation of the forcible removal of the
democratically elected President and government of Haiti. <br>
*************** <br><br>
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