(Below is the table of contents and lead story from the most recent issue of Haiti Info, the newsletter of the Haitian Information Bureau. The lead story from each bi-weekly issue is posted in this conference. To receive the entire newsletter, you may subscribe by email, fax or mail. See the subscription information at the end of this entry). * * * HAITI INFO * * * News direct from the people and organizations of Haiti's grassroots democratic movement 15 July 1995, Vol. 3, #20 Contents: Stories: LAVALAS LANDSLIDE JUSTICE: A DECISION MADE SURREPTITIOUSLY TET KOLE CONDEMNS IMPUNITY SOCIAL CLASH AT GENERAL HOSPITAL STRIFE AT TELECO INTERNATIONAL COLLOQUIUM ON "DEMOCRATIC TRANSITIONS" Sample Story: JUSTICE: A DECISION MADE SURREPTITIOUSLY PORT-AU-PRINCE, July 12 - Rather than being cause for celebration, the sudden judgment in absentia of a Haitian soldier charged with repression has angered the victim's family and organizations in the democratic and popular movement. The Struggle for Justice On June 30, the Les Cayes court condemned Lt. Emery Pyram to 60 years in prison with forced labor for "his direct implication in the murder" of Jean-Claude Museau, a student, organizer and professor arrested three months after the coup d'etat, on Dec. 30, 1991, when he was reportedly spotted putting up posters of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. He was severely beaten and also forced to eat some posters. He died on Jan. 8, but before he expired, named those responsible for his murder. According to court documents and to his family, Museau directly blamed Lt. Emery Pyram, Corporal Edme Eliscar Aurait, Col. Eugene Jose and de facto government Delegate Dr. Maxime Calixte. Since long before the invasion, Museau's family, the popular organization he co-founded (MUPAC, the Mouvman Inite Pep Okay), and the people of Cayes have demanded justice for the brutal murder. After a mass and radio program in 1993 to commemorate Museau's assassination, soldiers arrested the 53-year-old mother of student Marie Josee Saint-Firmin, a member of a local popular organization, when they could not find her. The soldiers also confiscated posters of Museau, the student's computer and address book. The mother was released after a month but the young woman was forced into hiding and eventually into exile. More recently, on Jan. 11, hundreds of people attended a mass and a march to demand justice. MUPAC distributed posters condemning "reconciliation with criminals." Since then, President Aristide has frequently mentioned the Museau case together with the murders of Antoine and George Izmery, Guy Malary and Father Jean Marie Vincent. In the meantime, Pyram was arrested by Interim Public Security Forces (IPSF) in Jeremie, but then released. (In a radio interview last week, Father Joachim Samedi complained about the IPSF and U.N. forces there, saying: "Justice is very sick. If I could take its pulse, it would be less than zero.") This spring, Museau's family filed a complaint naming the men Museau implicated, but only Calixte responded to a summons. Although the IPSF said it could not find Pyram anywhere, members of the Les Cayes International Civilian Mission team have reported that the IPSF there only rarely serves arrest warrants. (Pyram has been spotted in the capital.) Suddenly, on June 30, the court, which dropped charges against Calixte and has not mentioned the others, announced Pyram was condemned in absentia. Ministry's Demagogy While many have long demanded justice for Museau's murder, there is widespread criticism of the judgment, carried out without the knowledge of the Museaus or their lawyer in an atmosphere characterized by continued impunity and the Ministry of Justice's failure to convict a single criminal from the coup's three years of terror. Ironically, the judgment against Pyram was made quickly and quietly on the last day of June, which Minister of Justice Jean Joseph Exume had triumphantly declared "Month of Justice for All." But the "justice" delivered (in addition to the 300% raises already granted to judicial personnel) was the opening of a new, U.S.-funded school to "re-train" many of the existing (and proven corrupt) judges and to train new ones; the announcement of a U.S.- funded (US$18 million) justice program dominated by U.S. officials, and two mass meetings hosted by President Aristide at the palace on the last days of the month (June 28 and 29) with gushing and fawning judges and lawyers, including known putschists. The ministry's other main initiative was to launch a public relations campaign of radio spots telling judges not to take bribes and people not to "buy" justice anymore. In one advertisement, a citizen assures a friend that the justice system is improving. Some local media fell in step with the ministry's demagogy. Agence Haitienne de Presse immediately published a release noting, "It is the first person responsible for violent acts of the coup d'etat period that has been judged and condemned since President Aristide's return." Libete, the Creole weekly read by at least 10,000, wrote: "The judgment... is an example many victims of the coup should follow... a positive sign that shows the machinery of justice wants to start moving." It even said "the judgment and condemnation of former Lt. Pyram assuages Jean Claude Museau's family." (This week, Libete made a "correction" by publishing MUPAC's press release, cited below.) A Dangerous Precedent But actually, the population, MUPAC, Museau's family and human rights groups are not assuaged and in fact have protested the entire procedure, and the case does not offer a good example. Pyram is still at liberty, as are the others Museau named, and there have been no publicly announced travel interdictions for Pyram or any criminals of the coup. (Incidentally, the police and occupation forces can find criminals when they want. Today the U.S. announced the second arrest of College Fran ois, who "escaped" this spring. Fran ois, picked up in the Dominican Republic, was wanted in connection with the robbery-murder of U.S. embassy employees who were delivering a payroll.) Another problem is that the judgement only took place because Museau's family filed a complaint themselves. Despite the verbiage, the government never filed charges. Also, the whole thing took place in a far from transparent context. Museau's father, summoned to court on June 30, did not even know why. Human rights associations and lawyers are upset about the precedent, and MUPAC has moved into action. "What they did is not a judgment; it's a masquerade," said MUPAC's Willard Valcor. "This is a precedent and it gives us a clue as to what will happen in terms of justice in other cases, like Father Jean Marie Vincent and Antoine Izmery... where criminals don't get what they deserve and where they continue to circulate in the country, like a kind of Damocles' sword hanging over the heads of people struggling for true democracy." Valcor said the government's lack of will is obvious and that it is intentionally trying to keep the population out of the process and said MUPAC is trying to mobilize other popular organizations as well as human rights groups to demand justice. "The mobilization is not only for Claudy, it's against impunity," he said, "to make sure those who committed crimes are arrested." Yesterday MUPAC issued a press release demanding answers and action from the president, "who never ceases to cry out for justice for Claude Museau," and that the ministry, human rights and other groups take positions on the judgment. "If the government does not have the means to hunt down and judge criminals, it should have the courage to tell the people that, so they can accept their responsibilities. We already know so well: The wounded mouth knows the taste of blood and Se met ko ki pou veye ko." (Literally: "The owner of a body has to look after the body.") ABOUT HAITI INFO: * Haiti Info is published every two weeks in Haiti by the Haitian Information Bureau, an alternative news agency, and is edited by a group of committed individuals from democratic and popular sectors. * All articles Copyright HIB. REPRINTS ENCOURAGED. Please cite Haiti Info and send copies of usage. * Haiti Info is available by mail, by fax, and also electronically via computer. Subscription rates: Individuals E-mail - US$20 Organizations E-mail - US$70 [Those fees negotiable for journalists and non-profits] Write for more information, help for journalists, subscription costs for mail and fax: Haitian Information Bureau, c/o Lynx Air, Box 407139, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, 33340, USA. For electronic mail: hib@igc.apc.org. ** End of text from cdp:reg.carib ** >