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://www.haitisolidarity.net/article.php?id=213</a> <br><br>
Haitian political prisoner Rene Civil released!<br><br>
Haitian political prisoner Rene Civil had a court appearance yesterday -
December 13th - where he was released from prison after being held on
phony charges for 16 months. His attorney, Mario Joseph, had expressed
optimism about the outcome of the hearing. Mr. Civil has been detained in
notoriously bad conditions in an isolated jail far from his family after
a transfer from the main penitentiary in Port-au-Prince. His release is a
tremendous victory for Haiti's grassroots movement which has maintained a
powerful, unrelenting and visible mobilization for the release of all
Haiti's political prisoners.<br><br>
Rene Civil is a member of Fanmi Lavalas, and a leader of Jeunesse Pouvoir
Populaire or JPP (Youth/People's Power), a youth movement founded after
the 1991-94 coup when President Aristide returned to Haiti. The JPP
organized young people in the struggle for democracy, mainly in the poor
neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince. The JPP provided financial support to
encourage the youth to pursue their studies in school or learn a trade,
and set up centers where young people could get a hot meal and political
education.<br><br>
Two days before his arrest in August 2006, Rene Civil addressed the 3rd
Solidarity Encounter with the Haitian People, at the Aristide Foundation
in Port-au-Prince. He denounced the system "which causes economic,
political, military and social war on the people of the world", and
which is preventing poor nations like Haiti from exercising their
independence. "The people of Haiti," he said, "who believe
in freedom, who have tasted freedom, will never accept this criminal,
slaving system."<br><br>
A Haiti Action Committee-initiated delegation was able to visit Mr. Civil
in late July 2007 in the jail where he was housed over an hour's drive
from Port-au-Prince. We saw terrible jail conditions which included lack
of clean water, adequate food, sanitation, and health care. Mr. Civil was
in poor health, but strong spirits. A member of the delegation, Professor
Akinyele Umoja of Malcolm X Grassroots Organization, shared news of
political prisoners in the United States with him, and brought greetings
from the San Francisco Black Panther 8. Mr. Civil returned the greeting,
and sent a message of solidarity to people of Afrikan descent in the US.
He expressed his concern for the people of New Orleans and the Gulf
Coast. <br><br>
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Haiti Action Committee sends our solidarity and warmest regards to Rene
Civil and his family. Your freedom gives a boost to the work to free all
Haiti's political prisoners. <br><br>
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