Amnesty International Report 1996 - Haiti

A few former military and paramilitary officials were tried and convicted in connection with past human rights abuses, although most were not in custody. Investigations continued into several other massacres and extrajudicial executions from the past. A number of people suspected of having committed human rights violations were released from prison in controversial circumstances. Unconfirmed reports indicated the possible involvement of a serving government minister in the murder of two people in March. There were reports of beatings by prison guards and inappropriate use of firearms by police. The US-led Multinational Force, which had restored President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power in October 1994, was replaced in March by the UN Mission in Haiti. The joint Organization of American States (OAS)/UN International Civilian Mission in Haiti (MICIVIH), which returned to the country in December 1994, continued its human rights monitoring work. Both missions were mandated to remain until February 1996. Following elections held between June and September, parties supporting President Aristide won a substantial majority in the new National Assembly which started sitting in October. In December presidential elections were held. President Aristide was constitutionally barred from seeking re-election. However, René Préval, standing on behalf of the Lavalas political movement supporting President Aristide, was elected to take office in February 1996. Reform of the security forces, the prison system and the judiciary continued. In January President Aristide officially reduced the army from 7,000 to 1,500 men and by the end of the year moves were under way to abolish the army completely. Approximately 3,500 former soldiers had been integrated into an Interim Public Security Force (IPSF). There was widespread concern that insufficient measures were taken to screen out known perpetrators of human rights violations from the IPSF. In April a National Police Academy was inaugurated to train cadets of the newly-established Police nationale d'Haïti (PNH), Haitian National Police. By December some 3,000 new police had been deployed. The IPSF was officially disbanded but some officers were incorporated into the PNH. In May the government established the Administration pénitentiaire nationale (APENA), National Penitentiary Administration, a civilian agency located within the Ministry of Justice. There continued to be widespread reports of corruption and inefficiency within the judicial system, which remained so under-resourced that it barely functioned in some rural areas. In July a training college for judicial personnel, the Ecole nationale de la magistrature, National Magistrates' College, was opened. In September a presidential decree established the post of Protecteur des Citoyens et Citoyennes, Protector of Citizens, an ombudsman to investigate abuses perpetrated by public officials. In March the Commission nationale de vérité et de justice, National Commission for Truth and Justice, established by presidential decree in December 1994, was officially inaugurated. Its task was "to establish globally the truth concerning the most serious human rights violations committed between 29 September 1991 and 15 October 1994 inside and outside the country and to help towards the reconciliation of all Haitians, without prejudice to judicial remedies that might arise from such violations". The Commission was mandated to identify those responsible for such violations and to recommend reparations for the victims, as well as to recommend reforms of state institutions and measures to prevent the resurgence of illegal organizations. It was due to finalize its report in December. In some parts of the country, bureaux de doléances, complaints offices, were set up, where victims of human rights abuses or their relatives could lodge official complaints. In September a presidential decree established that 20 per cent of the Justice Ministry's budget would be set aside to assist such people. The government contracted a group of lawyers to investigate a few of the most blatant cases of human rights violations that had taken place under the military government. The government requested the extradition from the USA of Emmanuel Constant, former leader of the Front pour l'avancement et le progrès d'Haïti (fraph), Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti. He had fled Haiti in December 1994 after failing to answer a summons issued against him in connection with a judicial investigation into fraph's involvement in human rights abuses. A US court ordered his deportation to Haiti in August, and by the end of the year preparations were under way to return him to Haiti to stand trial. Emmanuel Constant was also being sued for damages in a US court for the alleged assault by FRAPH in 1993 on Alerte Belance, an Aristide supporter who subsequently obtained asylum in the USA. Lawyers acting on her behalf subpoenaed US government agencies for documents relating to FRAPH which had been seized by US soldiers from the organization's offices in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, in October 1994. As a result of the subpoenas, the existence of some 60,000 pages of documents came to light. At the end of the year, the US authorities were considering a request from the Haitian Government for the return of the documents. In March the Haitian Government submitted a summary report to the UN Human Rights Committee in conformity with Article 40 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the first time it had done so since Haiti ratified the Covenant in February 1991. Prison conditions improved markedly, but reports of beatings by prison guards were received. In some cases disciplinary action was taken against those responsible. There was particular concern about reports that 20 youths aged between 12 and 17 were beaten in Fort National prison in Port-au-Prince in November. It was not clear what action, if any, was taken by the authorities in that case. Serious problems with the administration of justice continued. A MICIVIH investigation into the situation of women and children held in Fort National prison found that several of them had been illegally detained and that there was no justification for their continued detention. It urged their immediate release. There were also alleged irregularities in the procedures followed in several cases of government opponents detained on suspicion of plotting against the government or illegally possessing weapons. Only a handful of alleged perpetrators of past human rights abuses were brought to trial and many of those were tried in absentia. In June former army lieutenant Jean Eméry Piram was sentenced in absentia to 60 years' forced labour in connection with the death under torture of Jean-Claude Museau in 1992 (see Amnesty International Report 1993). In August Gérard Gustave, a former attaché (civilian auxiliary working with the army), was sentenced to forced labour for life for several offences related to the extrajudicial execution of Antoine Izméry in 1993 (see Amnesty International Report 1994). In September, 17 others were tried and convicted in absentia in connection with the same case. They included former Chief of Police Michel François, who had fled to the Dominican Republic on President Aristide's return. Investigations into a number of past human rights violations continued. The cases included the massacre of over 200 peasants in Jean-Rabel in 1987 (see Amnesty International Report 1988); the extrajudicial execution of Justice Minister Guy Malary in 1993 (see Amnesty International Report 1994); the extrajudicial execution of Father Jean-Marie Vincent in 1994 (see Amnesty International Report 1995); and the massacre of some 50 people in Raboteau, Gonaïves, in 1994 (see Amnesty International Report 1995). Several people alleged to have been responsible for past human rights violations were released from prison in controversial circumstances. In September a former attaché, originally detained for common crimes but also allegedly under investigation for his suspected participation in the killing of Guy Malary, was released after being acquitted of the common crimes. The Haitian authorities later said that his release was a mistake and that they were seeking his recapture. There were allegations that the US Government had arranged the release of the former attaché, who reportedly admitted to lawyers investigating the killing of Guy Malary that he had been in the pay of the US Embassy from 1991 onward. A US government spokesman denied that the USA was involved in securing the man's release and said that he had no connection with the USA at the time of the killing of Guy Malary. A former chef de section (rural police chief) was arrested in March in connection with abuses that had occurred in Artibonite department between 1992 and 1994. He was taken to St Marc Prison and was released in May by local court officials, reportedly after he had bribed them. Several court officials were arrested but subsequently released. It was not clear whether any disciplinary measures were taken against them. The former chef de section was rearrested in July and taken to the National Penitentiary in Port-au-Prince. Twenty-six people arrested by US soldiers in the first few months after President Aristide's return, some of them suspected of having perpetrated human rights abuses, were released without charge after being handed over to the Haitian authorities. Several people, including known opponents of President Aristide, were killed during the year but in only one case was any specific allegation made that the Haitian authorities might have been involved. In March Mireille Durocher Bertin, a lawyer and opponent of President Aristide, and Eugène Baillergeau, one of her clients, were shot dead in the capital. The government launched an investigation into the killings and requested assistance from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. Press reports, quoting US military intelligence sources, alleged that four people arrested by US soldiers in Haiti just before the killing had informed them that the Haitian Interior Minister was involved in a plot to kill Mireille Durocher Bertin. In September the four detainees were provisionally released. There was no further news of the progress of the investigations by the end of the year. Several dozen lynchings, usually of a spontaneous nature, took place when crowds, apparently frustrated by the failure of the authorities to deal adequately with crime, took the law into their own hands. Members of brigades de vigilance (vigilance brigades) set up to help police in crime prevention were also occasionally involved in acts of violence. Legal action was only rarely taken against those responsible in such cases. Members of both the IPSF and the PNH were accused of using firearms inappropriately on several occasions, in a few cases leading to the death of the victim. In a small number of cases, those responsible were suspended or disciplined but none were known to have been prosecuted. In March an Amnesty International delegation visited the country and met government officials including President Aristide. The delegates stressed the need to end impunity by bringing to justice those responsible for past human rights violations, and the need for the security forces and brigades de vigilance to be properly trained and accountable for their actions. Questioned about the reasons for the release of the 26 prisoners handed over to them by the US military in January, the Minister of Justice said that his government was given insufficient documentation by the US military to justify their continued detention. The Amnesty International delegates visited Port-au-Prince, Cap-Haïtien, Les Cayes, Gonaïves and several other places. In St Marc, they asked local officials about the legal situation of a former chef de section (see above) who local human rights activists feared would either be released or enabled to escape by court officials. In June the organization wrote to the Minister of Justice to express concern about how his case had been handled. In December Amnesty International called for an investigation into the allegations that youths detained in Fort National prison had been beaten by guards and urged the release of those held without legal justification.