The
career of the assassinated journalist
Witnesses= accounts
Crime
scene and related evidence
Status
of the preliminary investigation
The
political environment
Statements of the judicial authorities
Statements
of the City Council and the local organization ADomi
lan Bwa@
(Sleeping in the woods)
Statements
of the Police Department
Statements
of the Association des Journalistes de Petit Goave.
BIODATA ON ASSASSINATED JOURNALIST BRIGNOL LINDOR
Born on November 4th, 1970 at Petit Goave,
Brignol Lindor completed his elementary
education at l=Ecole Nationale des Palmes (10th section of Petit Goave). He obtained
his high school diploma from Lycee Faustin Soulouque,
in his town of birth. He was 20 years old when he
became involved in the first democratic elections
in Haiti since 1929, organized in 1990 by the Honorable
Ertha Pascal Trouillot. He shared the enthusiasm of
hundreds of Petit Goave=s natives who in 1991 were "shocked@ by the coup against President Aristide. He devoted
3 years of his life (1991-1994) to defend arduously
the Anecessity to return to constitutional order and
the return of President Aristide@. He constantly
endangered his own life for the aforementioned case.
In the meantime, he registered in journalism school
where he graduated at the top of his class after two
years. He then studied judicial sciences at the Faculté
de Droit et des Sciences Economiques in Port-au-Prince
where he obtained his law degree. At 25 years old,
he returned to Petit-Goave where he showed a great
passion for philosophy, which he ended up teaching
in various educational centers in his native town.
At the same time,, he taught at l=Ecole de Droit de Miragoane. He also
offered his services to Radio Signal FM as a Press
Correspondent.
When his young friend Alezi Ardouin decided to create
Radio Echo 2000 three years ago, at his residence,
the house of his mother, Mrs. Nortilia Ardouin, Lindol
he was asked to serve as news Director. Along with other journalists from the
region, he created the Association des Journalistes
de Petit Goave (AJPEG) of which he became the
Adjunct General Secretary. In 1999, along with AJPEG=s General Secretary Mrs. Michelene
Hilaire, he requested and obtained affiliation with to the Haitian Press Federation, Afor a larger national campaign for a free Haitian
press and freedom of expression@ he wrote.
He participated shortly thereafter in special journalism
training in the U.S., at the recommendation of the
Haitian Press Federation. He then returned to Haiti,
determined as ever to stay in Petit Goave where he
also worked as a Custom Inspector amongst other things.
The assassination of Jean Leopold Dominique in April
2000 troubled him. He never stopped demanding investigation
and prosecution of the killers.
On his show ADialogue@, he invited all partisans of President Aristide
as well as members of the democratic opposition to
speak freely. On November 28th, 2001, he
aired an interview with several members of the opposition
who called for the resignation of the president. On
the next day, Adjunct Mayor Dumay Bony was rather
upset and organized a press conference and rally for
the application of the Zero-Tolerance formula (open
and public lynching) on Brignol Lindor, whose name
he called from a list.
Five days later, on December 3, 2001 at Croix
Hilaire, 5 kilometers from Petit Goave. Lindor was
stabbed in the back with a pickax and then cut into
pieces with machetes by members of the group Domi
Lan Bwa., a violent group which claims to be affiliated
to the Aristide Government
WITNESSES= ACCOUNTS
The Commission of the Haitian Press Federation listened
to a multitude of witnesses including Journalist Emmanuel
Espoir Cledamor, a member of the Advisory Committee
of the Association des Journalistes de Petit Goave,
who accompanied Lindor on December 3rd,
and many residents of the area.
According to Cledanor, in the morning of December
3, 2001, Lindor went to his Customs job at about 8:00
a.m. to inform his colleagues that he would go to
Miragoane. In light of the declaration made by the
Mayor five (5) days earlier, many persons from his
job advised Lindor to be careful, but his repeated
response was Athey could
kill Brignol Lindor, but they could never bury the
right of free speech and freedom of the press@. Cledanor
explained that Lindor came to his house later that
morning so that Cledanor could drive with him to Miragoane
where the he had to teach at the Law School of Miragoane.
Cledanor borrowed his father=s car and drove
off with Lindor, en route to Miragoane at about 10:30
a.m.
Lindor and Cledanor left Petit Goave as 700 students
from Lycee Faustin Soulouque took the streets
to protest, shouting slogans hostile to the government.
According to the testimony of Montigène Sincère, Correspondent
of Voice of America and Radio Haiti Focus of Petit
Goave, leaders of the Convergence Party took to the
streets attacking along their path those who showed
hostility towards them. A Fanmi Lavalas partisan (President
Aristide=s Party), Joseph
Duverger, was taken aside and badly cut by a machete
at 11:15 a.m., according to witnesses= account.
Mr Cemeres Beaulière, the Second Adjunct Mayor,
arrested a member of Convergence Party. The police
dispersed the gathering rather quickly with clubs.
Brignol Lindor was still on his way to Miragoane
with his friend Emmanuel Cledanor of Radio Plus of
Port-a-Prince and recent Correspondent of Radio Maxima
of Cap Haitian. Suddenly around Croix St. Jean, 3
2 Kilometers from Petit Goave, someone stopped their
car at a barricade, carefully studying the car=s occupants without a word, as if he was making
sure of the presence of someone he was looking for.
He then shook his head and ordered them to continue
on. The 2
journalists then pursued their route exchanging small
talk. Two kilometers farther, they noticed a gathering
around a motorcycle, right in the middle of the street,
a few steps from l=Ecole Nationale
de l=Accul, they slowed down as they passed through.
The motorcyclist, Mr. Love Augustin testified to
the Federation=s Commission
to have in fact seen Lindor and Cledanor=s vehicle pass
by while he was negotiating with the crowd, rather
full of very excited individuals asking him whether
he was one of President Aristide=s enemies, a member of the Convergence. Mr. Love,
who was never affiliated to the Convergence Party
had to swear as crowd members pointed a machete to
his neck that he knew nothing about politics when
suddenly a voice from the crowd cried:
Alook over in that car, it is Brignol Lindor! We have received official orders to kill him
before he reaches Miragoane, it=s him! It is
indeed him that we are are looking for!@ Then, the
crowd abandoned Mr. Augustin, and rushed after the
car, using whistles that mobilize dozens of other
armed individuals; They came from the woods, out of
the trees, and the narrow roads, chanting like furious
Azombis= with daggers,
knives, machetes and pickax in hand shouting frightening
sounds. They circled the carY
According to Mr. Emmanuel Espoir, Cledanor who was
driving came out of the car and attempts to explain. He mentioned that he and his friend are journalists.
Brignol Lindor calmly remained in the car.
Suddenly, someone screamed Adon=t touch carpenter Lescot=s son, he is not at fault, it is Brignol that we
want!@
While the other individuals from the crowd started
to break the car windows and hit Brignol Lindor with
a multitude of rocks, Emmanuel Espoir Cledanor whose
family is from l=Acul and whose brother is a judge at Petit Goave
is taken by the hands by about two (2) individuals
who showed him a sugar cane field nearby.
Brignol went down and lay low on the seat.
They opened the car door shouting such profanities
as: AKK, you will learn to respect us@! Brignol
does not see how he will get out of this.
He managed to run away from the crowd as did
his friend who was led through the sugar cane plantation.
Lindor sought refuge in the first house he
came to as he ran from the violent crowd to ask for
help. That
was the home of Petel Fils Zephyr, a member of the
City Commission (Assemblée de Section Communale (ASEC).
He was taken from the inside of that house
and thrown out to be literally devoured by the crowd.
Emmanuel Espoir Cledanor had time to see Maxi Zéphyr,
Petiel Fils Zephyr= brother, throwing
the first rock. Lindor
is hit on the chest, limps, and tries to show his
media identification. His tie is pulled dragging his whole body forward
as another individual totally hysterical, hit him
with a pickax on the back, piercing through to his
chest. Brignol
falls face down.
Then, his frail body is sliced with machetes,
knives, as if he were a dangerous animal.
The crowd holds him by the tie and drags his
body through the streets then turns the bloody and
massacred cadaver face up.
It is 11:20 in the morning.
Brignol=s blood is flooding the streets. This is not an act of revenge but a Aguet apens@.
The Amilitia@ full of rage cries and chants victoriously. They
believe that they just killed an Aenemy of the
family@. One of them suggests burning Lindor=s body, the majority protests saying that they must leave the body as
an example and symbol.
They prefer to throw him in a flack of dirty
and polluted water the dislocated body parts that
now make up the journalist Brignol Lindor.
Then they disappeared in thin air, like a gang
of phantoms who appear in the middle of the day, at
noontime, confusing the day with the nightY
CRIME SCENE AND EVIDENCE
Throughout the day, the police ignored the crime.
The reporter Emmanuel Espoir Cledanor escaped
through the sugar cane fields and jumped in a minibus,
then called the police on the telephone
as he arrived in Petit Goave around noon.
After attentively listening to Lindor, the
Supervisor responded: >Excuse me sir, I have to hang up!@ Cledanor calls back, pointing out that the situation
was alarming. The
supervisor calmly responds once more: AExcuse me sir,
I will terminate this call@. Cledanor again dialed the number, which this
time remained busy for over one hour.
The police register commonly called Amain courante@ by the officers
shows no record of Cledanor=s emergency
calls for help.
Cledanor continued to call until finally the supervisor
picked up the telephone once more saying: A The police chief is absent and I can do nothing
for you!@ Cledanor calls his brother, Judge Alex Cledanor. The police then
went to the crime scene around 5 o=clock p.m.,
according to Emmanel Cledanor.
His car was then set on fire at sunset around
6:00 p.m. In the meantime, all evidence such as the bloody tie of the journalist
are displaced and have disappeared from the crime
scene. The bloody tie was removed and sent to Radio
Echo 2000 as Aproof@ and a Apresent@.
Brignol Lindor=s parents testified to the Haitian Press Federation=s Commission that they also went to the Police Department
of Petit Goave. They
were asked to go home and were given no assistance.
They then went to the judge to ask him to accompany
them to the crime scene with a Justice of the Peace
to fill the necessary formalities and take eye witnesses=s testimonies
on the crime. The
Justice of Peace refused to go as requested by Lindor= parents, saying that he has ordered his staff to take care of it..
Lindor=s parents decided immediately to go alone to the
crime scene to take Lindor=s dislocated
body parts and return with the body to Petit Goave
and arrange his funeral.
Lindor=s cousin, a young priest alerted the Episcopalian
Conference. In the vehicle that brought the body,
the mourning and painful cries of Lindor=s parents cut
the air. They
cross on the road a police car that turned around
and followed them until they reached Villa Notre
Dame, the funeral home where Substitute Judge
Dumercier Bellande declared Lindor dead without going
to the crime scene.
The police department did not register the name
of any suspect that day.
The evidence was completely neglected and not
handled at all. The crime scene was not secured.
The primary crime scene, the escape itineraries,
the spontaneous declarations of possible suspects,
none was investigated, no elementary procedure on
the homicide had been recorded by the Police. Moreover, they did not search for or question
anyone who was present at the crime sceneY
The police did not either seek to determine and
record the area of the crime.
In addition, no photographs were taken. No
canvassing was done. No fingerprints, no photographs
of the sliced body, or other pertinent information
was registered by the police.
The Haitian Press Federation=s Commission noted therefore that no pertinent information
was gathered from the crime scene. Neither was anything
done to preserve, describe, document and thus facilitate
any judicial investigation.
STATUS OF THE PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION
The Haitian Press Federation=s Commission is strongly interested in the way the
judicial authorities addressed the case.
Judge Alex Cledanor, at the onset, recused
himself citing conflict of interest.
He said he was too directly involved,
given that his brother Emmanuel Espoir Cledanor
was driving the victim the day of the assassination
and would be called to testify.
Judge Cledanor explained that it is up to the State
Attorney (Commissaire du Gouvernement) to open the
case with an investigation request so that the police
act immediately and so that a subpoena can be issued
particularly to the political organizations accused
at the onset.
ACommissaire du Gouvergement@ Frantz Philemon, based in Leogane, assisted by
Substitute Judge Dumerzier Bellande, who is based
in Petit Goave now feels threatened.
He bases his fear on the simple fact that he
had begun pre-trial procedures on the case and drafted
a list of individuals to appear to testify on the
matter. That list would include especially names of
members of the Convergence Party according to the
opposition.
Judge Alex Cledanor of Petit Goave informed the
Haitian Press Federation=s Commission
that there are no Agrounds@ and that he does not plan to trial this case either:
AAnother Judge needs to be assigned to this case@ he says. He
prefers to turn to the Interim Dean of the civil Court
Mr. Emmanuel Tataille who has re-opened the Tribunal
last October, with no official nomination to replace
retired Judge Dean Emmanuel St. Amour who=s aptitude are deemed limited as well. Judge Cledanor also turns to the 3rd
Circuit Judge of Petit Goave, Mr. Duclerc Fritzner
and principally towards the Federal State Attorney
(Procureur de la Republique) who has already being
Athreatened@ since the
very beginning of the preliminary investigation.
If he feels Atoo threatened@, he can, according to explanations
from the Bar, at the receipt of the first report from
the investigation (on the basis of the findings and
declarations of the Substitute) either Afile them and do no follow
up@ and await formal instructions from the Executive
branch. In
addition, the suspects left no evidence according
to the first very Averbal@ incident reports of the Petit Goave Police Department.
Judge Alex Cledanor is formal: AWe can trial
a case without documentation, without preliminary
investigation from the Police, and without the request
from the State Attorney. And, even if we go through with this, there
needs to be a desire from the public to apply the
law: take for instance the murder case of the Athis
couple who were cut in pieces with a machete at Petit
Goave, as a Judge, I gave a list along with arrest
warrants on the suspects. Some people came to destroy the Civil Court
of Petit Goave in the middle of the day, the police
was not willing to help, no one was arrested and the
assailants are still on the loose@. What do
we do then? Asked the Federation=s Commission.
Judge Cledanor got up suddenly and responded:
AI must tell you sincerely that even if another colleague
accepts to bring the Lindor case to trial, I do not
guarantee any serious result if the press does not
play a role and maintain the pressure to see that
the laws are properly applied.
THE POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT AT PETIT GOAVE
Brignol Lindor is dead in a very politicized environment,
some 70 kilometers west of Port-au-prince, on the
northern coast of the southern island the Indians
called Aguava (La Meduse). This Apolitical@ city which just saw the spectacular execution of
a young journalist crystallizes Haitian political
passions. There are about 20 political organizations
in Petit Goave. The
10 most influential include:
|
PARTY
|
POSITION
|
|
Fanmi Lavalas
|
President Aristide Party
|
|
MPSN - Mouvement Pour la Sauvegarde Nationale
|
Anti-Lavalas
|
|
MOREP B Mouvement
Revolutionnaire
|
Pro-Lavalas
|
|
OPL - Oganizasyon Pep en Lut
|
Anti-Lavalas
|
|
MOLTIG - Mouvement Lavalas de Petit Goave
|
Pro-Lavalas
|
|
Rassemblement Capois La Mort
|
Anti-Lavalas
|
|
MTF B Multiplicateur
Fanmi Lavalas
|
Pro-Lavalas
|
|
MJR B Mouvement
des Jeunes Revolutionnaires
|
Anti-Lavalas
|
|
UMIPEG B Unon des
Militants Lavalas de Petit Goave
|
Pro-Lavalas
|
|
GDB - Groupe Domi lan Bwa -
Vigilantes Sleeping in the Woods
|
Pro-Lavalas
|
Radical and ultra nationalist political leaders
lead some of these organizations. These leaders have
become true experts in organized strategies to fight
politically in rural areas.
In this explosive environment also lives Petit Goave=s Bishop, the Reverend Edwidge
Carre who is considered as President Aristide=s eyes and ears in the region. Reverend Carred has for 20 years been preaching
on the basis of the theology of liberation. He has played a key role in the downfall of Duvalier in 1986 before
he was sent to Kenskoff under the direction of Father
Sicot. He was sent back to Petit Goave under the new
presidence of Mr. Aristide.
He is supported by numerous influential popular
organizations (OP) at Petit Goave including Henri
Claude Leconte. The
Association des Journalistes de Petit Goave and Lindor=s family had expressed their desire to hear a statement
from Reverend Carre who kept silent on Lindor=s assassination.
In that same environment there is Mr. Dufort Milord,
a legislator from Petit Goave who refused to make
a public statement on the murder of the journalist.
He has been considered for quite some time
as the Spokesperson of Fanmi Lavalas in Petit Goave.
Mayor Emmanuel Antoine has not engaged himself publicly
on the case either, remaining to date away and managing
with the support of the other two (2) City Council
members the affairs of Fanmi Lavalas in the city.
They have also called for, at a press conference
the application of public lynching (zero tolerance
principle) against members of the Convergence Party.
The professional environment at the Customs bureau
where Lindor also worked remains equally silent and
unwilling to give any testimony on this case to date
as well. Everyone
is reluctant to disclose information on the last persons
with whom Lindor met, those who left at the same time
as he the Customs office on motorcycles that morning
and who have taken apparently the same route as Lindor
as he and his friend headed to Miragoane.
At the Law School of Miragoane, those who knew Lindor
paint him as Aone of the
most intelligent products of his generation@Y as a Apromotor of
non-violence and a follower
of Gandhi=s philosophy@.
THE ATTITUDE OF THE JUDICIAL AUTHORITIES
The Commission found out that the judicial authorities
exhibited a APonce Pilate@ attitude in the days that followed the murder of
Journalist Lindor.
At Petit Goave where there exist several courts:
civil, penal, administrative, etc.) no official
seems to know where to begin, neither do they seem
to know how to proceed so that the assailants be found
and punished, given the tense environment where people
are subject to constant threats.
No Justice of the Peace has done a report of
the murder. The
Substitute Judge was late getting to the scene and
had to go to the funeral home that was made accessible
to television, photographers, and the general public.
The assassination of the journalist remains hypothetical
for a Afrightened@ judicial body with limited ability. The trial judges whose mission is to hear crime
and garnish the assets of the criminals after being
found guilty, remind us that they cannot do miracles
in a town dominated by politics and which overpowers
the judicial system.
Nothing can be accomplished if the State Attorney
does not begin the process.
