[R-G] Haiti Liberte's This Week in Haiti 1:21 12/12/2007 (fwd)

[Anthony Fenton]

From: K M Ives <kives at toast.net>

This Week in Haiti" is the English section of HAITI LIBERTE  
newsweekly. For
the complete edition with other news in French and Creole, please  
contact
the paper at (tel) 718-421-0162, (fax) 718-421-3471 or e-mail at
editor at haitiliberte.com. Also visit our website at  
<www.haitiliberte.com>.

                             HAITI LIBERTE
                   "Justice. Verite. Independance."

                    * THIS WEEK IN HAITI *

                        December 12-18, 2007
                              Vol. 1, No. 21

POLITICAL PRISONER RENE CIVIL TO STAND TRIAL THIS WEEK
by Kim Ives

The well-known Lavalas activist leader Rene Civil will go to trial on  
Thursday, Dec. 13, to answer charges of forgery, accessory to theft,  
and the illegal possession of a firearm.


Haitian police arrested Civil and three other men - Julmiste Widlin,  
Smith Lappe and Fred Jean Louis - on the night of Aug. 25, 2006 for  
the supposed theft of a vehicle belonging to the Haitian government.  
The arrest was conducted illegally, without a warrant and after the  
hours (6 a.m. to 6 p.m.) when a warranted arrest is supposed to be made.


Civil purchased the vehicle - a green Mitsubishi L200 pick-up - in  
2001 for $17,000 and had registered it with the police. During the  
2004-2006 coup d'etat when Civil took exile in the Dominican  
Republic, Haitian police had seized the vehicle and used it for their  
own purposes. Civil had only recently reclaimed the truck before his  
arrest.


Rene Civil was a leader of Popular Power Youth (JPP), a popular  
organization founded after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide returned  
to Haiti following the 1991 to 1994 coup d'etat against his government.


"Liberty or death!" Civil declared on leaving his arraignment in  
August 2006. " I have been arrested unjustly with false accusations  
because I defend democracy, the return of President Aristide, and the  
reintegration of militants into public service."


Civil was arrested on May 12, 2006 at the border when attempting to  
cross into Haiti from the Dominican Republic to attend the May 14,  
2006 inauguration of President Rene Preval. He was held in jail for  
two weeks on other trumped-up charges which were dismissed on August  
14, 2006, just two weeks before he was arrested again.


Civil's lawyers called his arrest "a political act and an abuse of  
power." Civil will be represented on Thursday by Mario Joseph of the  
Bureau of International Lawyers (BAI). Mr. Joseph is optimistic that  
the charges against his client will be dismissed.


Civil's health has deteriorated dramatically in the squalid  
conditions of the National Penitentiary where he has been held  
without trial for the past year and three months.



ACTIVIST PRIEST GERARD JEAN-JUSTE IN PORT-AU-PRINCE APPEALS COURT
by Wadner Pierre - HaitiAnalysis.com

"I am not a visitor. It is my country. I come when I want, only I  
have a lot of things to do to the United States with the various  
Haitian communities, and I travel frequently. I am only here for an  
appointment with the honorable judges of the Court of Appeal in Port  
on Monday, November 26, 2007 at 10:00 AM. I respect the justice of my  
country." So stated Father Gerard Jean-Juste to journalists shortly  
after stepping off a plane in Port-au-Prince.


Accompanied by his lawyer Mario Joseph of the Office of International  
Lawyers (BAI), the priest arrived one half hour early for his court  
appointment. At 11:30 a.m. the hearing began with the three judges of  
the Court of Appeal: Ms. Lise Pierre Pierre, Mr. Daran and Mr. Eddy  
Joseph Lebrun. Father Gerard Jean-Juste has been battling charges  
against him since July 2005 despite international protests in which  
even Amnesty International participated.


Jean-Juste is charged with the notoriously vague allegation of  
"criminal association," as well as illegal possession of weapons.  
After questioning, the court asked Jean-Juste to summarize his defense.


In response to the charge of "criminal association" he stated: "As a  
priest my boss is Jesus, then the Bishops, and after them my people  
are my associates. I am not a member of an association of 'wrong- 
doers,' but a member of an association of benefactors, and in this  
association Jesus is the boss."


Regarding the second charge of illegal possession of weapons, he  
said: "I am a priest, and as a priest my job is to pray and help  
people who need help. When I worked for President Aristide I had some  
security guards. After the coup in February 29 [2004] I lost the job  
and with that the security guards too. The Judge who heard my case  
before wrote that I said I have weapons. Yes, I have weapons: My  
Bible and my rosary are my weapons. " Jean-Juste then held up his  
rosary as supporters of Lavalas, Family party of former President  
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, shouted out: "Justice, justice for Father  
Jean-Juste."


In the end, Judge Pierre Pierre decided not to dismiss the charges.  
She claimed more time was needed to review the case. Jean-Juste  
retains his "provisional" freedom. The decision is odd given the two  
and a half year duration of the high profile case and the fact that  
the prosecutors conceded that there was no evidence against Jean-Juste.


Writing in the South Florida Sun Sentinel, human rights attorney  
Brian Concannon, who has prosecuted very high profile cases in Haiti,  
observed that "Jean-Juste has now faced charges under the Preval  
administration for as long as he did under the Latortue regime."  
According to Concannon a hundred political prisoners, much less  
prominent than Jean-Juste, continue to languish in Haitian prisons  
despite Preval's election in 2006.


Jean-Juste needed police assistance to navigate through a large crowd  
of enthusiastic supporters outside the court house.



JUSTICE DELAYED, AGAIN
by Brian Concannon

Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste's struggles with Haiti's criminal justice  
system have been a good gauge of the system's health for the last  
three years. The latest episode, last month, showed that rule of law  
is alive in Haiti - if not exactly kicking.


"Fr. Gerry," a Catholic priest well-known as an advocate for South  
Florida's immigrants and Haiti's poor, has fought charges of murder,  
treason, weapons possession, disturbing the peace and criminal  
conspiracy since Haiti's interim government first arrested him in  
October 2004. No one has produced any evidence of criminal activity,  
but that has not stopped Haitian authorities from arresting Jean- 
Juste three times and jailing him for seven months.


Gerard Latortue, who headed the interim government (March 2004 - May  
2006) that arrested Jean-Juste, has returned home to Boca Raton,  
replaced by an elected government led by President Rene Preval. Jean- 
Juste has been out of prison since January 2006, when he was released  
provisionally to seek treatment for leukemia at Jackson Memorial  
Hospital.


But he still faces charges of illegal gun possession - even though  
there is no proof he ever possessed any weapons - and criminal  
conspiracy - even though there is no allegation that he conspired  
with anyone or planned any crime. There are no witnesses against Fr.  
Gerry.


When Jean-Juste languished in Haiti's prisons, his plight was widely  
condemned by human rights groups and members of Congress as political  
persecution by an undemocratic regime. When he was released a week  
before the long-delayed elections that brought President Preval to  
power, many saw the promise of the return of the rule of law to Haiti.


That promise has been only partially fulfilled. A hearing of Jean- 
Juste's challenge to the charges on Nov. 26 before the Appeals Court  
of Port-au-Prince had many auspicious signs. Jean-Juste and his  
lawyers made their case freely. Hundreds of supporters turned out  
without incident. The hearing was orderly. And the prosecutor  
formally recognized the absence of evidence against Jean-Juste and  
recommended dismissing all charges.


But the judges declined to dismiss the case, claiming they needed  
more time to review the file. The Appeals Court has already had 22  
months since Jean-Juste filed his appeal, and seven months since a  
previous appeals hearing in April. That is plenty of time to review  
almost any file, and more than enough for a file that the prosecutor  
concedes contains no evidence of wrongdoing.


Jean-Juste has now faced charges under the Preval administration for  
as long as he did under the Latortue regime. Although Fr. Gerry is  
not in jail, thousands of other men and women arrested by the interim  
government are stuck in the democratic government's prisons,  
including perhaps a hundred or more political dissidents.


Over 90% of Haiti's prisoners have never been tried; most were  
arrested without a warrant and have no evidence against them in their  
files. Most are poor, and unlike Fr. Gerry, don't have access to  
lawyers or supporters to come to court for them.


The cases of Fr. Gerry and others arrested by the Latortue regime are  
not President Preval's fault, but they are now his problem. Although  
comprehensive reform of Haiti's justice system is complex, dismissing  
baseless cases is not.


Haiti's government can advance the cause of justice, bring hundreds  
of people home to their families, and save money in the prison budget  
by simply reviewing case files and seeking dismissals unless the  
files show a good, legal reason to continue. Ending Fr. Gerry's  
battle would be an opportune place to start.

- - - -

Brian Concannon Jr., Esq. directs the Institute for Justice &  
Democracy in Haiti, www.ijdh.org. This essay was published as an Op- 
Ed in the Dec. 9 edition of Ft. Lauderdale's Sun-Sentinel.

All articles copyrighted Haiti Liberte. REPRINTS ENCOURAGED.
Please credit Haiti Liberte.

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