OEA/Ser.L/V/II.74
REPORT
ON THE SITUATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
... continued
C.
THE PRACTICE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF HAITI IN
THE MATTER OF PERSONAL LIBERTY
73. In spite
of the fact that the provisions of Haitian law set forth clear and precise
procedures pursuant to which detentions are to be carried out by the proper
authorities, and even provide for the punishment of persons who carry out
illegal detentions, the practice reveals the failure of the Haitian authorities
to respect these provisions of the law.
74. The
Police is the appropriate body to carry out arrests.
Pursuant to Article 269 of the Constitution:
"The Police is an armed body. It
operates under the Ministry of Justice."
In fact, however, the Police and the Army are not separate bodies, they
are both comprised of members of the Armed Forces and operate under the Ministry
of the Interior. The Minister of
Interior and National Defense is Col. Williams Regala, who, together with Lt.
Gen. Henri Namphy, headed the National council of Government. a.
The Situation in the Detention Centers:
Persons in Detention
75. The
Commission during its on-site visit in August 1988 requested and received a list
of the names of the persons currently in detention from the Minister of Justice.
This list includes the names of 123 persons who are in detention at some
stage of the legal proceeding. In
fact, however, when the Commission visited the National Penitentiary, Col. Weber
Jodesty, the Commander of the Penitentiary informed the Commission that there
are 298 persons in detention, the discrepancy was explained by the fact that the
Justice Ministry list was probably several days old and new people are brought
in every day. The Commission
requested that day's list of detainees which was submitted to it on Saturday,
September 3, 1988. This second list
contains 165 names. All the names
on the list are at some stage of the legal proceedings. The list includes the following names, which pursuant to
information received by the Commission, is the first list of detainees in Haiti
made available to a human rights organization.
For this reason the Commission has decided to publish the list.
It should assist local human rights organizations in Haiti in monitoring
detentions. The Commission cannot emphasize enough the importance it
gives to the government's maintaining a systematic, public registry of persons
in detention. i.
Persons in Detention at the order of the Examining Judge
1.
Jean Seide
2.
Jean-Claude Jean
3.
Harry Coldroste
4.
Saint-Clair Thenas
5.
Gustave Lamarre
6.
Hermius Dangerville
7.
Maxo Exilas
8.
Simone Sineus
9.
Jacqueline Duvernois
10.
Antoine Dormeus
11.
Frantz Deus
12.
Michel Toussaint
13.
Otilien François
14.
Eddy Pierre
15.
Roland Otilien
16.
Dieuvaise Boniface
17.
Lucien Pierre-Paul
18.
Ilézier Augustin
19.
Jonas Pierre
20.
Renéus Isnadin
21.
Diujuste Isnadin
22.
Roland Saint-Jeane
23.
Jean Charles
24.
Mme. Edgard Pierre
25.
Jeanty Destra
26.
Fritz Pierre
27.
Sauveur Dor
28.
Muselia Cleophat
29.
Dieujuste Petit-Frere
30.
Julmise Vilias
31.
Wilner Pyram
32.
Lyonel Jean-Baptiste
33.
Hugues Georges
34.
Véronique Rosier
35.
Préslaus Toussaint
36.
Désinor Saintilus
37.
André Jean-Philippe
38.
Carl Suprien
39.
Michel Trazil
40.
Alix Nicolas
41.
Marc-Aurel Etienne
42.
Frantz Cesar
43.
Saurel Amazan
44.
Locène Bruce
45.
Magloire Murat
46.
Pierre Rodrigue
47.
Fernando Rodriguez
48.
Christianne Germain
49.
Joseph Douze
50.
Tanis Vilson
51.
Jean-Camille Muzack
52.
Lucien Alexandre
53.
Luc Cesar
54.
Joseph-Obas Angrand
55.
Manus Vital
56.
Jocelyn Beauchard
57.
Israel Jean
58.
Wisler Paul
59.
Michelet (ainsi connu)
60
Léonel Auguste
61.
Joseph Derelus
62.
Mireille Garnier
63.
Vierge Dumond
64.
Maneus Cadet
65.
Locius Rosius
66.
Jean-Robert Jean-Pierre
67.
Ronald Pierre
68.
Elianne Etienne
69.
Deubenit Jeanty
70.
Lérancia Dieudonne
71.
Bello Marcellus
72.
Maurice Altenor
73.
Joseph Semay
74.
Guilbert Pierre ii.
Persons in Detention at the Order of the Parquet
(Commissaire du Gouvernement)
1.
Vilhomme Eldiste
2.
Delin Denis
3.
Sauveur Rosiclair
4.
Fortulien Nouvelle
5.
Gérard Jean-Louis
6.
Joseph Beauvoir
7.
Hector Gaston
8.
Lorenzo Robledo
9.
Oscar Gamarra
10.
Joaquin Welter
11.
Carlos Bustos
12.
Saint-Cyr Louissaint
13.
Salva Brutus
14.
Marie-Carmel Casseus
15.
Pierre-Richard Thomas
16.
Nana Carious
17.
Amarante Cicéron
18.
Fritzner Mezon
19.
Pierre Dominique
20.
Claudette Baroulette
21.
Luc Windsor
22.
Saint-Pierre Michel
23.
Jacques Elysee
24.
Marcelin Dimanche
25.
André Charles
26.
Wesner Joly
27.
Violenne Pierre-Louis
28.
Jacques Toussaint
29.
Joner Roserne
30.
Casmir Cesar
31.
Ftitz Volcy
32.
Maruice Prophete
33.
Thomas Alfred
34.
Jacques Pervil
35.
Emile Estiverne
36.
Jean Ftitz
37.
Jiry Pierre
38.
Gentil Amilcar
39.
Josette Joseph
40.
Eddy Joseph
41.
Nerva Elysee
42.
Jean-Robert Vital
43.
Jean-Robert Michel
44.
Renel Nelzy
45.
Papo Carte
46.
Jean-Claude Samedy
47.
Gary Shore
48.
Joassaint Enock
49.
Jean Beauchamp
50.
Martial Saintibert
51.
Galdys Dupre
52.
Edner Mahotiere
53.
Hébert Elma iii.
Persons in Detention at the Order of the
1.
Flavio Duval
2.
Claudette Pierre
3.
Nancy Emile
4.
Françopis Maxime
5.
Phanel Joseph
6.
Dunel Exume
7.
Anglade Elias
8.
Reynold Permelus
9.
Jean-Richard Abraham
10.
Paul Saint-Cyr
11.
Nazil Mesilus
12.
Rodrigue Alfred
13.
Mario Saint-Fleur
14.
Vital Gay
15.
Erick Cajus
16.
Joseph Isman
17.
Manno Augustin
18.
Lytane Gentilhomme
19.
Cécilie Monde iv.
Persons in Detention at the Order of the
1.
Fritz Victor
2.
Antoine Bazard
3.
Lucia Henrilus
4.
Jean-Claude Audeney
5.
Simone Jean
6.
Martha Dessous
7.
Pierre-Paul Blanc
8.
Elie Pierre
9.
Emile Simon
10.
Rodrigue Charles
11.
Jean-Claude Jean-Charles
12.
André Dalusma
13.
André Jacques-Pierre-Gilles v.
Persons in Detention at the order of the
1.
Marie-Alice Charles
2.
Gérard Laguerre
3.
Frtizner Dorvilus
4.
Borgella Saint-Louis
5.
Jean Milian
6.
Eddy Remy
76. During
the Commission's visit with the prisoners at the National Penitentiary it met
with a group of 28 women ' among them a 16 year old minor ' and only one of whom
had been brought before a judge. None
had a lawyer. The delegation also
met with a large group of male prisoners, the majority had not been brought
before a judge and their names do not appear on the list of detainees; one for
example, was 17 year old and had been transferred the day before from Recherches
Criminelles where he said other were still being held.
77. During
the Commission's visit to Haiti in January 1987, the members of the Commission
were informed by the authorities that Fort Dimanche, the notorious prison of the
Duvalier era, was no longer being used. In
fact on May 14, 1986 the Ministry of Information published a communiqué
announcing that Fort Dimanche, symbol of the Duvalier dictatorship, would no
longer be used as a prison. The
members of the Commission visited fort Dimanche and found that it still held
detainees. In Fort Dimanche, the Commission interviewed detainees who
had been beaten, who did not receive medical care, who were starving because
they received no food, and had been held incommunicado for months at a time,
having had no contact with a lawyer, judge or any other representative of the
legal system.
78. With
respect to these abuses, the Commission in its March 1987 letter to Col. Abraham
stated that:
The mistreatment of prisoners and detainees is an abominable practice
which must be quickly and definitively be eliminated.
The testimony received from detainees in Fort Dimanche and the National
Penitentiary confirms that detention commences with a beating, sometimes to the
point of requiring medical attention, that, in general, they receive food once a
day or not at all, most detainees suffer severe weight loss, they receive no
visits, have no access to counsel, are not brought before a judge, and except on
very rare occasions, they do not leave their cells.
The case of Jean Gibson Narcisse, whom the Commission interviewed in Fort
Dimanche, is of a particular concern to the Commission and we wish to receive a
full report as to the medical and legal attention he has received.
The Commission recommends further that the Government maintain a central
registry of the names of detainees and the places where they are detained.
79. During
the Commission's visit to Haiti in August 1988 the delegation once again met
with Major Isidore Pognon. Maj.
Pognon dressed in the blue uniform of the Haitian Police Forces, gave the
delegation a tour of the facilities in the company of many of his 200 men.
He stated that Ft. Dimanche is no longer used as a prison although
approximately 10-20 people are detained on a daily basis but they are
transferred to the National Penitentiary on the same day.
The delegation met with two detainees, one a drug addict and the other an
illegal alien from the Dominican Republic.
The Haitian stated that he was in fact a drug user and had no complaints
about being locked up. He denied
that his mother had requested his detention, as stated by Maj. Pognon.
The Dominican stated that he had no lawyer and no accusation had been
made against him. They had both
been in detention for several days.
In light of the fact that Ft. Dimanche was used to detain members of Mr.
Leslie Manigat's party, it is a matter of public record that it is still being
used as a detention center. Given
the fact that the military government had three weeks to prepare for the
Commission's visit the Commission is not in a position to say whether what it
was shown reflects the current reality.
81. It
should be added that other detention centers exist in Port-au-Prince, among
these which have been identified there is one known as Cafeteria and
another in the Petionville district. The
Commission did not visit these centers and the authorities did not inform the
Commission of any other detention centers in Port-au-Prince sine it maintains
that persons are only (legally) detained in the National Penitentiary.
Information received from persons in detention at the National
Penitentiary regarding places from which they were transferred contradicts the
information presented by the military government that these facilities are no
longer being used as detention centers. b.
The Case of Mr. Jean Gibson Narcisse (Case No. 9897)
82. On
January 20, 1987 two members of the Commission visited Fort Dimanche, Dr. Marco
Tulio Bruni Celli and Ambassador Elsa D. Kelly, with members of the Commission's
Secretariat. Then Capt. (now Major)
Isidore Pongnon, the head of Fort Dimanche, denied the members of the Commission
access to the cell of Mr. Jean Gibson Narcisse, aged 21, a prisoner held in
solitary confinement, and with whom the members of the Commission sought to
speak in private. News of the
denial of access to the prisoner was broadcast on Haitian television and in the
written press. Mr. Narcisse's
mother, who had no information about the whereabouts of her son since September
1986, learned, by means of the press reports covering the Commission's visit to
Fort Dimanche, that her son was in detention.
The next day access was granted for the Commission to return. 83. On January 22, 1987, the Commission again
visited Fort Dimanche and interviewed Mr. Narcisse in private.
He had been in detention since September 1986, and had been badly beaten,
especially on the throat, making it very difficult for him to speak.
He had been given very little food, a small amount of rice and corn each
day, and had lost approximately one hundred pounds.
In spite of the health problems which resulted from the beatings, he
received no medical attention. 84. The medical report the Commission requested
of the Haitian Government was never provided.
Fifteen days after the departure of the Commission, however, Mr. Narcisse
was transferred to the National Penitentiary where his conditions of detention
improved. 85. Mr. Ernst Cadet had been arrested in Cité
Soleil the same day as Mr. Narcisse. The
Commission had also opened his case and sought to interview him at the National
Penitentiary during its visit in January. The
members of the Commission were able to meet with Mr. Cadet in private and to
learn, first hand, about his conditions of detention and the status of any legal
proceedings pending against him. 86. Mr. Ernst Cadet was arrested and taken
directly to Casernes Dessalines, where he was beaten.
The family of Mr. Narcisse and the family of Mr. Cadet both sought the
services of the same Haitian lawyers, Mr. Gérard Georges and Mr. Jean-Claude
Nord. Following the proceedings
brought against them on October 27, 1987, both Messrs. Narcisse and Cadet were
acquitted and released, after having spent 13 months in preventive detention.
Following their release, Mr. Gérard Georges reported that he began to
receive anonymous threatening phone calls.
The callers said that he was the lawyer of terrorists and warned him that
he would be killed. 87. As the cases of Mr. Narcisse and Mr. Cadet
clearly demonstrate, arrests are carried out without the benefit of law or legal
protections for the individual. Arrests
are carried out by uniformed members of the security forces or by plainclothes
members of the Army or the Police. The
1987 Constitution, however, mandates that arrests be conducted with a warrant
and that the detainee be brought before a magistrate within 48 hours (supra).
In practice, however, according to the military commanders of these
detention centers, approximately 10-20 persons are detained in each center
daily, and then transferred within 48 hours to the National Penitentiary.
The detainee is taken to Recherches Criminelles (the Criminal
Investigations Unit of the Police Headquarts), to Fort Dimanche, or to Casernes
Dessalines, the military barracks of the Army, located near the National Palace
and other similar places throughout Haiti, where he/she is interrogated, and
beaten sometimes to the point of unconsciousness or death, the detainee is left
to starve, has no contact with family or a lawyer, and as regards the community,
he/she has "disappeared". c)
The Case of Mr. Yves Volel (Case No. 10.095)
88. Mr. Yves
Volel, aged 53, practiced law and was a candidate for the Presidency of Haiti
for the Parti Chrétien d'Haiti (PCH). His
case illustrates the consequences of one lawyer's efforts to see that the
Constitution be applied as regards persons in preventive detention.
89. According
to the information presented to the Commission, on October 9, 1987, as Mr. Yves
Volel was leaving the Office of Contribution building (a sort of municipal tax
collection office) someone called to him through a small grille from a cell in
Recherches Criminelles. The person
identified himself to Mr. Volel as Jean Raymond Louis, and requested that Mr.
Volel, a well-known lawyer, intervene on his behalf.
90. Four
days later, on October 13, 1987, Mr. Yves Volel, with a copy of the 1987 Haitian
Constitution in hand, returned to Recherches Criminelles in order to demand the
immediate release of Mr. Jean Raymond Louis, on the basis of Article 25-1 of the
Constitution, which stipulated:
No one may be interrogated without his attorney or a witness of his
choice being present.
91. Mr.
Volel had come to Recherches Criminelles to meet with Major Joseph Baguidy, the
officer in charge, but prior to entering the office of Major Baguidy he held a
press conference in front of the building.
Mr. Volel spoke first in Creole to the Haitian journalists present and
then intended to repeat his comments in English in order to address himself to
the foreign journalists. He had
just begun to speak in English when he was hit by three bullets, two of which
struck him in the head and the neck killing him instantly.
Reportedly the bullets struck him from behind as Mr. Volel and the
journalists were assaulted by plainclothes armed men.
The Commission, during its on-site visit to Haiti in August 1988 was
surprised at the number of military men under Maj. Baguidy's command who were
not in uniform. During the
Commission's visit to Recherches Criminelles, the delegation visited the
facilities and was concerned that the majority of the military officials were
not in uniform in sharp contrast with the military officials at Fort Dimanche,
who were all in uniform.
92. According
to Mr. Walter Bussenius, the general manager of Télé Haiti which had filmed
the press conference but whose cameras and the film had been confiscated, Mr.
Volel was shot at the end of a statement about constitutional rights.
Reportedly Mr. Volel told the journalists: "I have the Constitution in my left hand and my robe as
a lawyer in my right hand. I am
going to go inside and defend this man's constitutional rights."32
According to Mr. Bussenius he was shot after that statement.
Since Mr. Volel was shot in front of the police headquarters and the
plainclothes armed men who did the shooting proceeded to confiscate the
equipment of the journalists rather than assist the victim or pursue the
perpetrators, it is presumed that the shooting was carried out by the police. 93. The Chief of Police, Mr. Grégoire Figaro, in
an official communiqué, a few hours later, stated that Mr. Volel tried to free
a prisoner by force and that he died in an exchange of gunfire. The Police Chief's statement claimed that Mr. Volel had been
armed with a Colt 45 and he gave the supposed serial number of the weapon as
proof. He claimed that Mr. Volel
had arrived at the police headquarters accompanied by armed men, but made no
mention of the journalists. Mr.
Bussenius is reported to have said that his staff members told him that Mr.
Volel was not armed. 94. No one was arrested for the killing of Yves
Volel.33 The
version of the facts presented by the journalists was confirmed the same day as
film of the press conference -
which had escaped confiscation - was broadcast by the international press
exposing the cover-up attempted by Col. Figaro's earlier account. 95. Panic broke out after the shooting of Mr.
Volel and the assembled journalists took flight.
A photo appeared in the press of Yves Volel's body lying in a pool of
blood with a revolver at his side. The
available evidence leads to the conclusion that the revolver was planted at the
scene to give credence to the Government's charge that Mr. Volel attempted to
enter the Police Headquarters by force. Mrs.
Volel, however, announced the following day, that her husband was unarmed the
day in question and showed the press the weapon that her husband was authorized
to carry by law and which he had left at home. 96. The Commission presented this case to the
Government of Haiti on October 19, 1987, and despite reiterated requests for
information dated February 18, 1988 and May 2, 1988, the Government has not
responded. The Commission during
its on-site visit in August 1988 raised the case of Mr. Volel with Col. Baguidy,
who is in charge of criminal investigations.
Col. Baguidy informed the delegation that "the case has been
solved," it is before the courts and that the suspects are "about to
be arrested." Since they are
not yet under arrest he could not reveal their names, he added. d)
The case of Mr. Jean Raymond Louis
97. After
the killing of Mr. Yves Volel, the public prosecutor (Commissaire du
Gouvernement) of the Port-au-Prince Criminal court, Mme. Mireille Pluviose,
announced that Mr. Jean Raymond Louis had been transferred from the
Port-au-Prince police headquarters, known as what charges were pending against
him, but Mme. Pluviose stated that he would be brought to trial soon.
98. In fact
Mr. Jean Raymond Louis was never formally charged and never brought to trial.
He was released on December 15, 1987 after spending three months in
illegal detention in Recherches Criminelles and the National Penitentiary.
99. Mr. Jean
Raymond Louis was 28 years of age in 1987, a professor of languages and the
father of three children. He
founded a political party (the Parti National des Progressistes Haitiens)
in the Dominican Republic, where he lived for three years as a political exile.
Together with Louis Eugène Athis (who had been assassinated in August
1987) and Luc B. Innocent he fought for the right to organize for Haitian cane
cutters in the Dominican Republic.
100. Mr. Louis was
arrested in September 1987 on the corner of Rue St. Martin and Blvd.
Jean-Jacques Dessalines by armed plainclothes officers in the service of the
Criminal Investigations Unit (Recherches Criminelles) at approximately 2 p.m. in
the afternoon. The street was
deserted when the driver of a white Toyota, a police car, stopped and asked him
where he was going. As he was
preparing to respond, two men emerged from the car, grabbed him by the waist of
his trousers and brutally thrust him onto the floor of the vehicle.
They slapped him and brought him to Recherches Criminelles where he spent
his first night in prison.
101. The following
morning he was awakened early. A
sergeant asked him his name, address and political affiliation.
Then, Major Baguidy, in person, the head of Recherches Criminelles, put
him through a violent interrogation session.
He was handcuffed and beaten by five or six persons, who beat him on the
back, stomach and head with their bats while Major Baguidy, alone, asked the
questions. He was interrogated
regarding his political contacts and he replied that, as a politician, he had
contacts with all the nationalist leaders in the country, that he had been a
member of Sylvio Claude's PDCH in 1983 and that Mr. Luc B. Innocent had helped
him out financially. The henchmen
beat him to a pulp and he was thrown into a cell where he lay on the floor for
several days.
102. According to
Mr. Jean Raymond Louis, 10-15 persons die each day in Recherches Criminelles as
a result of the beatings or starvation.34
Prisoners are not permitted to receive visitors nor are they given
any food. In addition, they are
required to pay 5 gourdes (one U.S. dollar) for their transport to the court.
If they do not have any money, "they are condemned to rot
indefinitely in prison". According to information received by the Commission, female
detainees are raped by the soldiers and the armed plainclothes police.
103. At the time
of Yves Volel's intervention on his behalf, Jean Raymond Louis had been in
detention for several days without having been charged.
He had met Mr. Volel upon his return from the Dominican Republic and had
seen him several times, but he was overwhelmed to learn that Mr. Volel had
personally come to Recherches Criminelles on his behalf.
At the time, he had been in detention for approximately one week and had
received nothing to drink or to eat; he was also beaten at least once a day.
In spite of the number of interrogation sessions Major Baguidy never
mentioned the killing of Mr. Volel to him.
104. Subsequently,
he was transferred to the National Penitentiary, and one afternoon, at
approximately 3:00 p.m., a sergeant called out his name and told him that he
could go home. He was not asked to
sign anything and he simply walked out and went home.
105. During the
Duvalier era political detainees were taken initially to Fort Dimanche or
Casernes Dessalines for questioning, and Recherches Criminelles was reserved for
common criminals. Pursuant to the
1987Constitution, the Police, which until then had functioned under the control
of the Army, was to become a separate body under the control of the Ministry of
Justice. Its duty under the
Constitution is "to guarantee public order and the protection of lives and
property of citizens" (Article 269.1).
The duties of the Armed Forces on the other hand, under the command of
Lt. Gen. Henri Namphy, are to defend the country in case of war and to protect
the country against external threat. The
Armed Forces may only assist the Police in the maintenance of public order at
the request of the Executive when the Police are unable to fulfill their duties
(Article 266(d)).
106. In spite of
the constitutionally mandated separation of the Police and Armed Forces,
detentions continue to be carried out, in secret, by members of both the Police
and the Army in joint commando operations, and detainees continue to be held in
irregular detention centers, with no access to their families or to the
assistance of a lawyer. e)
The Case of Messrs. Yves and Carl Auguste (Case No. 10.022) 107.
In May 1987, the Commission received the case of Messrs. Sénêque Jean
Louis, Eddy Moise, Kador Dérésil, Yves Auguste and Carl Auguste.
All of these individuals had been arrested between March 13 and 16, 1987.
Prof. Yves Auguste, 47 years of age, an engineer, and professor at the
Faculty of Science at the University of Haiti and his brother Carl, 42 years of
age, a naturalized U.S. citizen and journalist, were the only two of the group
who had a lawyer. Mr. Sénêque
Jean Louis, 29, a mechanic, Mr. Eddy Moise, 33, an artist and Mr. Kador Dérésil,
28, an electrician, had been arrested with the Auguste brothers on the suspicion
that they had killed an officer of the Armed Forces, Lt. Pierre Ajax Raymond,
and on the charge of the attempted murder of Sgt. Joseph Damus, a detective of
the Police Headquarters Investigations Unit.
108. On May 27,
1987 this case was registered as Case No. 10.022 before the Commission on behalf
of these five individuals.
109. Prof. Yves
Auguste was arrested on March 13, 1987 in his office at the Ministry of Public
Works, where he was employed, by a group of armed men in plainclothes, without a
warrant, who brought him to the Criminal Investigations Unit.
110. Mr. Carl
Auguste was arrested on March 13, 1987 by plainclothes armed men at his
brother's house in Pelerin 5, an area of Port-au-Prince, and he was taken to
Recherches Criminelles.
111. At the Police
Headquarters all five men were held in a cell the dimensions of which were
approximately 2 meters by 3 meters and 3 meters in height in which up to 50
persons were detained.
112. After being
held for one week in Recherches Criminelles, they were transferred to the
National Penitentiary where they were held for another week before being
transferred back to Recherches Criminelles for 16 days.
On April 16, 1987 Messrs. Yves and Carl Auguste were brought before the Commissaire
du Gouvernement of the Criminal Court of Port-au-Prince, Mme. Mireille
Pluviose. Haitian law requires that
a detainee may not be kept under arrest for more than 48 hours unless he has
been brought before a judge who is to rule on the legality of the arrest. The Auguste brothers had been in detention for 1,416 hours
before being brought before a judicial authority.
They were interrogated by Mme. Pluviose who then transmitted the "Réquisitoire
d'Informer" to the Juge d'Instruction to initiate the proceedings.
113. On May 14,
1987 the Auguste brothers were brought before the Juge d'Instruction,
Mr. Hénock Voltaire. At this stage
of the proceedings an individual normally has the right to legal counsel. In apparent violation of Article 25 of the Constitution, the
Auguste brothers were brought before the Juge d'Instruction escorted
by military guards and without the assistance of Counsel.
114. On May 27,
1987 the Commission transmitted this case to the Government of Haiti for its
observations.
115. On June 9,
1982 the lawyers of Yves and Carl Auguste, Messrs. Gérard Georges and Jean-Caude
Nord addressed a letter to Mr. Hénock Voltaire, the Juge d'Instruction
in this case, stating that Yves and Carl Auguste had been arrested without a
warrant, and that, as a result, the arrests were illegal.
In addition, they were not brought before a judge until may 14, two
months after their arrest, in spite of the 48-hour disposition in the
Constitution. The lawyers requested
that, taking into consideration the inhumane conditions of their detention, the
judge order their immediate release.
116. On July 13,
1987 Yves and Carl Auguste were released. They
had spent 122 days in prison.
117. After their
release Prof. Yves Auguste stated that he and his brother had been held
incommunicado during the period of detention in Recherches Criminelles, on the
grounds that their case involved national security issues.35
According to Prof. Yves Auguste, the other three individuals who
were also arrested - Eddy Moise, Kador Dérésil and Sénêque Jean Louis - were
badly tortured, having been beaten with a wooden bat approximately 150 times per
day.
118. Mr. Auguste
stated that Haiti no longer has a "political" police force, and that
the criminal police carries out all police functions.
Political prisoners, however, are held in a separate section of the
National Penitentiary. In this
political prisoner's wing, Prof. Auguste spoke with approximately ten prisoners,
including: Messrs. Luc Désir, Paul
Véricain, Samuel Jérémie, Vallcius Estinval, Saintange Bontemps, Edouard
Paul, Kénol Joseph, Eddy Moise, Kador Dérésil and Sénêque Jean Louis.36
119. Mr. Auguste
stated that the conditions in Recherches Criminelles are worse than in Fort
Dimanche. The detainees are placed
in cells in which there are normally 13 people per cell, sometimes, however,
there are as many as 30 in a cell. Individuals
regularly die of suffocation.
120. The lawyers
presented to the Auguste brothers demanded $50,000 dollars, and then another
asked for $10,000 dollars, to free them. The
senior officers at Recherches Criminelles made it clear that they would be
released if they agreed to pay certain sums of money for their release. Finally, Mr. Gérard Georges and Mr. Jean-Claude Nord
accepted to take on the case.
121. Prof. Yves
Auguste also stated that he witnessed the death of four common criminals who
were beaten to death, one after the other, because they refused to tell the
Chief of Recherches Criminelles where they had hidden some money that they were
suspected of having stolen. According
to Prof. Auguste, torture is commonly practiced in Recherches Criminelles, and
they could hear the cries of torture victims all day long.
Children are also detained with adults, and at one point there was even a
ten-year-old child in his cell. Despite
protests from the prisoners, the child was not released.
122. The staff of
Recherches Criminelles, according to Prof. Auguste, is made up of former Tontons
Macoutes and ex-members of the criminal or political police (Service détective),
it is headed by Major Joseph Baguidy and his assistant Captain Reynold Colbert
Simbert. They also control the
death squads which terrorize Port-au-Prince.
According to Mr. Auguste: I
should like to stress that those jeeps and Peugeots with no registration plates
which are barely noticed by the civilian population before they have disappeared
set out from Recherches Criminelles. It
is officers from the Recherches - and I know this for a fact - who infiltrate
popular demonstrations and open fire. Taking
an example which I know well: it
was an agent provocateur who slipped into the crowd at the women's demonstration
on Tuesday, 28 July 1987 and shot at Edline Noel.
I saw with my own eyes officers in plainclothes leave for the CATH.
(…) It is also the
officers from the Recherches who don their olive green uniforms to get into
private houses and beat the occupants mercilessly.
Three men are in charge General Regala, Colonel jean-Claude Paul and
Colonel Grégoire Figaro. They are assisted in this dirty work by Captains Isidore
Pongnon, Bordes Achille, Ernst Ravix (Artibonite), Raynold Colbert Simbert (Recherches),
Roland Azémar (Police), Maj. Antoine Jean Gilles Jr. (Cassernes), Maj. Joseph
Baguidy (Recherches), and Col. Wilthan Lhérisson (Quartier Général).
There are eleven of them in all willing to do anything to keep themselves
in power.
123. By note dated
September 24, 1987 the Government of Haiti transmitted to the Commission a
response to its request for information dated May 15, 1987.
Although Messrs. Yves and Carl Auguste had already been released, no
mention was made of them in this communication.
The response of the Haitian Government stated that: Pursuant
to the decision ("ordonnance") of the Juge d'Instruction, Mr. Hénock
Voltaire of the Court of First Instance of Port-au-Prince, dated July 8, 1987,
the following named individuals: Sénêque
Jean Louis, Eddy Moise and Kador Dérésil have en transferred to the Criminal
Court for a jury trial, having been charged with the murder of lt. Pierre Ajax
Raymond the attempted murder of Joseph Damus and the armed robbery of Mme.
Jossette Saint Hilaire. Having
been formally charged on August 14, 1987 it can be expected that they will be
tried during the Court's next session which is to begin in October of this year.
124. Messrs. Yves
and Carl Auguste were released after the other three detainees - Eddy Moise,
Kador Dérésil and Sénêque Jean Louis - told the Commissaire du
Gouvernement that they had been forced to admit, under torture, that the
Auguste brothers were part of their organization (the Organization for the
Liberation of Haiti) when in fact they had nothing to do with the O.L.H.
continued...
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31. Id.
32. Yves
Volel was "camarade de promotion" of Henri Namphy (1952-1954) in the
Military Academy. He was also an
instructor in the Military Academy of Williams Regala, Gregoire Figaro,
Jean-Claude Paul, Prosper Avril and Hérard Abraham.
None of his old colleagues sent a letter of condolence to his family at
his death. (See, Louis Julio
Valbrun, former Lieutenant in the Haitian Armed Forces:
"Une Armée qui dévore ses propres Fils" in Haiti Progrès,
25 November-1December, 1987 at p. 11).
33. Pursuant
to Haitian law in cases of crimes (in flagrant delicto) the Commissaire
du Gouvernement (or in his/her absence, the Juge d'Instruction is mandated,
by law, to appear immediately at the scene of the crime and to begin a
proceeding against "X" if the persons who are responsible have not yet
been identified. In this case Mme.
Pluviose, was the Commissaire du Gouvernement, who should have initiated
the criminal proceedings against those responsible.
34.
See, Roosevelt Jean François: "Les
Prisons de Major Baguidy" interview with Jean Raymond Louis in Haiti en
Marche, 23-29 December 1987 at p. 10.
35. See,
Elsie Etheart: "Les Prisons de
Namphy". Interview with Prof.
Yves Auguste in Haiti en Marche, 12-18 August 1987 at p. 7.
36. The
Commission has been informed that Paul Voricain, Kenol Joseph and Saintange
Bontemps have subsequently been released from prison. |