March 3, 2002
Is
Another Assassination of JEAN DOMINIQUE about to Take
Place?
Michèle Montas Dominique
Published by flashadmin
on Thursday, March 7, 2002, Radio Haiti Editorial
3/3/02
Today is March 3, and 23 months ago a journalist committed
to the struggle for change was assassinated. That
shameful crime aroused indignation throughout the
entire country. Such an example of growing impunity
brings the attention of the world upon Haiti today.
On the same date last year, on March 3, 2001, twenty-six
organizations from the civil society wrote to the
head of the Haitian State. "This committed journalist,"
said the letter "was not killed under the dictatorships
that he had so bravely fought. He was assassinated
at a time when a government whose efforts he was supporting
toward more justice and stronger institutions was
promising, just like you, the rule of law and the
end of impunity... If justice is not served today,
in the cases of Jean Dominique and Jean-Claude Louissaint,
other irreplaceable individuals will be destroyed
by the same murderers or other assassins." And
it continued by reminding the duties of the Chief
of State: "Article 136 of the Constitution makes
you, Mr. President, the person responsible for the
stability and preservation of institutions. Article
145 of our Fundamental Law makes you responsible for
ensuring that court orders are obeyed," said
the open letter to the head of the State.
On this same date last year, March 3, 2001, shortly after
that document was broadcasted by our radio station,
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide came to Radio Haiti
to express his support publicly for the judicial inquiry
and pledge that the Executive Branch of government
would make available to justice the resources needed
to investigate the April 3, 2000 assassinations at
Radio Haiti. Today, 23 months later, facts are speaking
louder than words:
Fact: The Chief of State, who has the direct and exclusive
authority to renew Judge Gassant’s mandate, has
still not done so although that judge diligently and
systematically conducted the investigation for 16
months with courage and competence, not allowing himself
to be intimidated by individuals presumed above the
law. No explanation was given to thousands of persons
who, for 23 months, have been calling for justice
in this emblematic case.
Facts: All the resources, i.e. logistical, technical, and
financial made available in this judicial case by
the preceding government have been cancelled. The
special and relatively modest funds which had helped
in the success of the trials of Raboteau and Carrefour-Feuille,
as well as the funds allocated, among other resources,
to the work of the first two investigating judges
assigned to the murder cases of Jean Dominique and
Jean-Claude Louissaint, allowing them to follow the
leads of a difficult investigation in several areas
of the countries, were cancelled; so were the resources
made available for other investigations such as those
about the poisoning of children with diethyl glycol
or the kidnapping of baby Nanoune Myrtil at the General
Hospital. Among the measures taken to help in the
investigation about the murder of the most famous
Haitian journalist, police protection was given to
the investigating judge and some of the witnesses.
Such help is no longer available.
Fact: The Senate of the Republic, composed exclusively of
members of Fanmi Lavalas, returned the Jean Dominique
file to the investigating judge, asking for a number
of documents prior to any decision about lifting Senator
Dany Toussaint’s parliamentary immunity, as requested
by Judge Gassant; according to jurists, the release
of such documents would amount to a flagrant violation
of the investigation’s confidentiality. By doing
so, the Senate conferred upon itself the authority
of a court, in violation of the separation of powers.
Fact: The Police, which theoretically answers to the Ministry
of Justice, has taken no action on some arrest warrants.
Witnesses who have refused to appear in court, alleged
assassins, or individuals who have openly committed
illegal acts go about their businesses freely, in
this case as in others. Meanwhile, a new judge is
assigned to the cases of Jean Dominique and Jean-Claude
Louissaint, not by the Judges’ Association as
required by law, but by the Senior Judge of the Civil
Court, whose animosity against Judge Claudy Gassant
is commonly known.
Fact: Will you say to me: The investigation is making progress?
Judge Pierre Josiard Agnant, whose expertise is similar
to Judge Gassant’s, heard the plaintiff and summoned
an alleged witness and an individual who had been
charged, based on previous hearings held by Judge
Gassant in the course of the investigation. Senator
Toussaint, charged by Judge Gassant, bragged and claimed
victory. It is not a common practice for an individual
who has been charged to select the investigating judge
by whom he will be interrogated. Will you tell me
that the investigation is also making headway, since
things are apparently moving? Because of those very
facts, serious questions arise about the political
will to render justice to Jean Léopold Dominique,
after 23 months and many other assassinations. In
the case of Judge Gassant, one could mention the need
for the regime to be careful with a few rich and powerful
party members that the investigating judge had not
spared, or with members of the judicial branch resentful
of that judge who spent several months in the spotlight.
In the interest of the State: Appease, in the name
of forced reconciliation, adversaries or possible
political rivals within the same party facing accelerated
implosion.
There are still more serious questions arising: Would it
be the case that the healthy wing of this party, who
expressed itself for an independent and transparent
judicial investigation, is being sacrificed in favor
of those who constitute a mafia within the party?
Putting the "continuing investigation" on
the back burner and forgetting the demands for justice
formulated in the emblematic case of Jean Dominique,
is that one of the prices that the regime must pay?
Power at what price?
Seriously, what has been Judge Gassant’s professional
mistake, when the Supreme Court just ruled in his
favor over Senior Judge Lise Pierre-Pierre? Why is
the Chief of State keeping so silent? We have the
right to know. You may remember, Mr. President, the
three famous "roch dife" (firestones): Participation,
Justice, and Transparency. If
it is confirmed, that decision not to renew the mandate
of a competent investigating judge after he conducted
an investigation for 16 months may seem like an easy
way out, in the short term; however, even if it is
never explicitly announced, that decision will exert
a powerful effect undermining the credibility of the
Chief of State. How can someone really expect that
Judge Agnant, no matter how competent or dedicated,
will manage to bring himself up to date in a matter
of days, and work effectively on a difficult and eminently
dangerous case, while obviously he will have no special
police protection? Is it possible to believe that
the purpose is just "the investigation continues?"
In the case of the majority party in the Senate of the Republic,
as in the case of the Police, the inability to impose
guidelines and to clean up, control, and manage is
dramatically eroding the authority of the already
weakened State, by projecting the image of a lack
of cohesiveness, planning, and, above all, the absence
of political will. But is that just an image?
Today, beyond words and promises, the facts indicate that
the balls are biased and the regime is affected with
a dangerous gangrene. Principles and moral guidelines
are compromised every day by political opportunism.
Those ideals shared by Jean, including a generous
but rigorous socialism, respect for liberties within
the framework of democracy, nationalist independence,
based on a long history of resistance, those ideals
that Jean used to call "Lavalas" are trampled
every day in this balkanized State where weapons make
right, and where hunger for power and money takes
precedence over the general welfare, causing havoc
on a party which, paradoxically, controls all the
institutional levers of the country. Our concerns
run deep, since the cracks are widening and the building
will eventually collapse over all of us.
Today, it may be politically incorrect to demand truth and
justice, 23 months after the murders of April 3, 2000.
All we want is a decent country, and we will never
accept a new assassination of Jean Dominique, even
perpetrated insidiously.
Michèle
Montas Dominique
Radio Haiti Editorial 3/3/02
