OEA/Ser.L/V/II.74
doc. 9 rev. 1
7
September 1988
Original: English

REPORT ON THE SITUATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
 IN HAITI

 

... 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 Justice of the Peace - Section East

 

 

                   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 Justices of the Peace - Section North

 

 

                   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 Justices of the Peace - Section South

 

 

                   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.