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RESOLUTION Nš 40/82 CASE
2648 HAITI March
9, 1982
BACKGROUND:
1. In a
communication dated November 24, 1977, the Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights received the following denunciation: Mr.
Ernst Benoit, a Haitian citizen, 25 years of age, student, was arrested
in Port-au-Prince in July of 1976. He was transferred to the
Port-au-Prince National Penitentiary during the same month. Later on, he
was moved from the National Penitentiary to the Fort Dimanche prison, on
August 26, 1976. He was put in cell Nš 5 of that prison. Ernst Benoit
has been held for more than one year in flagrant violation of the
Haitian Constitution which stipulates: No
one may be kept under arrest more than forty-eight (48) hours, unless he
has appeared before a judge who is assigned to rule on the legality of
the arrest and the judge has confirmed the arrest by a decision giving
reasons therefore. (Article 17) Ernst
Benoit should be released or, if some charges have been placed against
him, he should be tried immediately by a jury of his peers. 2. On March 20,
1978, the Commission addressed the Government of Haiti and transmitted
to it pertinent parts of the petition and requested it to furnish the
information it considered appropriate in connection with the facts
charged 3. On April 14,
1978, the Commission received from the Haitian Government a
communication dated April 5 in which the government acknowledged receipt
of the letter of March 20 and stated the following: The
Chancellery hastens to reiterate once again that there are no political
prisoners in Haiti. It also requests you to not take into consideration
any more petitions and accusations of this type that are lodged against
the Haitian Government. Moreover, all persons having such petitions may
always address the Department of Justice which is required to provide
them with all necessary information. 4. Since the reply
of the Haitian Government confines itself to denying in a general
fashion the existence of political prisoners in Haiti and does not refer
specifically to the status of Mr. Ernst Benoit, whose personal
identification and place of detention were made known to the government
when the pertinent parts of the petition were transmitted to it, the
Commission decided to request the Government of Haiti once again to
furnish information on the case in question, which it did in a
communication dated January 3, 1979. The pertinent parts of this
communication read: We
request the Haitian Government to forward to us specific information in
connection with the following: 1.
Has Mr. Ernst Benoit been arrested or imprisoned and what was the
date of his arrest or the imprisonment? 2.
If the aforementioned person has been arrested or imprisoned,
what is the date of his release and what legal provisions have been
invoked? 3.
In the event that this person has been arrested or imprisoned,
what was he accused of and what was the decision handed down in the
case? 4.
According to the allegations received by the Commission, Mr.
Benoit has died during the course of his detention and, should that be
the case, what were the date and the cause of his death? 5. The Government
of Haiti did not reply to this new request for information even though
the same request was made in another note dated October 19, 1981, which
also warned of eventual application of Article 39 of the Regulations of
the Commission if the information requested was not received within
reasonable time. WHEREAS:
1. In its note
dated April 5, 1978, the Government of Haiti confined itself to denying
in a general fashion the existence of political prisoners in the
country, and did not refer specifically to the status of Mr. Ernst
Benoit. 2. That the term
stipulated in Article 31 of the Regulations of the Commission has lapsed
and to this time the Government of Haiti has not replied to repeated
requests for information made by the IACHR in connection with the status
of Mr. Ernst Benoit, and this leads to the presumption that there are no
further remedies under domestic law that must be exhausted (Article 46
of the American Convention) in accordance with the procedures
established in that Convention. 3. Article 39 of
the Regulations of the Commission reads: Article
39 The
facts reported in the petition whose pertinent parts have been
transmitted to the government of the state in reference shall be
presumed to be true if, during the maximum term set by the Commission
under the provisions of Article 31 paragraph 5, the government has not
provided the pertinent information, as long as the other evidence does
not lead to a different conclusion. 4. Article 1 of
the American Convention on Human Rights reads: Article
1. Obligation to Respect Rights 1.
The States Parties to this Convention undertake to respect the
rights and freedoms recognized herein and to ensure to all persons
subject to their jurisdiction the free and full exercise of those rights
and freedoms, without any discrimination for reasons of race, color,
sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social
origin, economic status, birth or any other social condition. 5. The Republic of
Haiti is a State Party to the American Convention on Human Rights. Therefore,
in view of the foregoing information and the considerations made, and
since the Commission does not have other information that would lead it
to conclude otherwise, on the grounds of Article 39 of its Regulations, THE
INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS, RESOLVES: 1. To presume to
be true the facts denounced in the communication of November 24, 1977,
relating to the status of Mr. Ernst Benoit, arrested in September, 1976,
and located, at the time of the denunciation, in cell Nš 5 of the Fort
Dimanche prison, considering that no information has been received as to
his release or having been placed under the orders of a competent
authority, or, in the event that he has died in prison, what were the
date and the cause of his death. 2. To declare that
these facts constitute a grave violation of the following rights
protected in the American Convention on Human Rights: right to personal
liberty (Article 7); right to humane treatment (Article 5); right to a
fair trial (Article 8). 3. To recommend to
the Government of Haiti: a) that it provide for the immediate release of
Mr. Ernst Benoit; b) that in the event that Mr. Benoit has died in
prison, to report the date on which his death occurred and the causes of
it. Furthermore, to recommend to the Government of Haiti: a) that it
make a full and impartial investigation to determine who is responsible
for the facts denounced; b) that, in accordance with Haitian law, it
punish those responsible for the facts denounced; c) that it report to
the Commission within a term of ninety days on the measures that it has
taken to put the aforementioned recommendations into practice. 4. To communicate
this resolution to the Government of Haiti and to the petitioner. 5. To include this
resolution in its Annual Report of the General Assembly of the
Organization of American States.
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