Jimmy Charles & Journalist summarily executed in Haiti for witnessing police crimes

Agence Haïtienne de Presse – Haitian Press Agency – AHP

January 17, 2005

The family of Lavalas activist Jimmy Charles accuse the police of having executed their son: lawyers and human rights organizations call for justice

Port-au-Prince, January 17, 2005 (AHP)- The family of the Lavalas activist Jimmy Charles  accused the Haitian police Monday of having executed their son.  

According to the family, Jimmy Charles was among a group of four men who were arrested at Fort National on January 5 by soldiers from MINUSTAH before being turned over to the Haitian police to be imprisoned at the Anti-Gang service.  

The body of Jimmy Charles was discovered at the morgue riddled with bullets last week, the day before he was due to appear before a judge to respond to the accusations against him.  

“My son was released from detention without being heard by a judge for the sole purpose of being executed”, said Jean Charles Déus, who is anxious to hear an explanation from the police authorities.  

According to the wife of the victim, Mickelsie Jusna, it is inconceivable that an individual who was in police custody would be found murdered.  

Mme. Jusna rejected the statements of the PNH spokesperson, Jessy Cameau Coicou, indicating that Jimmy Charles was killed during a clash with the police.  

These attempts to explain what happened could not convince anyone, not even a child, she said.  

The victim’s lawyer,  Mr. Mario Joseph, also denounced what he described as the summary execution of his client by the police.  

Mario Joseph announced that he will file a complaint against the police authorities seeking an explanation of this incident.  

“We are living at a time when one talks about the rule of law, democracy, respect for human life. How then can one explain that a person who was arrested by the police and detained by the police be found murdered”, asked Mario Joseph. He said he is determined to pursue this case as far as it goes.

Ronald St-Jean, coordinator of the GDP (Group for the Defense of the Rights of Political Prisoners), also condemned the murder of  Jimmy Charles by the police.  

Ronald St Jean said he is convinced that Jimmy Charles was a non-violent citizen who was arrested outside  his home by soldiers from MINUSTAH at Fort National and then turned over to the police.

This murder adds credence to the recent statements of the special representative of the United Nations in Haiti, Amb. Juan Gabriel Valdès, asserting that the national police are guilty of many cases of summary executions in Haiti.  

Ronald Saint-Jean also criticized what he indicated was an effort by NCHR to trivialize the case of Jimmy Charles by explaining that he was released before he was executed.  

AHP has been unsuccessful in its attempt to reach an NCHR official by telephone in order to obtain NCHR’s version of the facts.  

------------------------------------------------------------------------ The AJH Secretary General believes he has relaible information that the police did indeed execute  journalist Abdias Jean ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Port-au-Prince, January 19, 2005 (AHP)- Guyler C. Delva, Secretary General of the AJH (Association of Haitian Journalists), spoke in condemnation Wednesday of the killing of journalist Abdias Jean in Village de Dieu during a police operation conducted in that populist district on Friday, January 14.  

Guy Delva said he has solid information indicating that the crime was committed by police officers who pursued Mr. Jean to a house after he witnessed their crimes.

Two other youths were killed during this police sweep.  

Mr. Delva said he was amazed to find that police officers are summarily executing journalists and seizing the tools of their trade because they have witnessed criminal conduct.  

“I can not comprehend how such practices can take place at a time when one is talking about the rule of law and democracy”, declared Mr. Delva.  

He called for the opening of a rigorous investigation into this case.  

For his part, Ronald St-Jean, director of the Committee for the Defense of the Rights of the Haitian People (CDPH), took issue with the recent statements of interim Prime Minister Gérard Latortue assuring that his government would not sink to engaging in arbitrary practices.  

By way of examples, Ronald St-Jean cited the case of the summary execution of Lavalas activist Jimmy Charles, whose bullet-ridden body was discovered Saturday in La Saline though he was known to have been in police custody, and the case of journalist Abdias Jean who was killed Friday in Village de Dieu during a PNH intervention in this populist district.   

Mr. St-Jean strongly urged that an autopsy be performed on the body of the journalist as a means of producing additional verification.  

He also condemned the behavior of the police toward journalists from Télé Ginen during the same operation.  

PNH officers had seized the video camera of the journalists and only returned it several hours later without the video cassette that had been in the camera.  

According to the CDPH official, this attitude clearly shows that the police are trying to hide their misdeeds.  

In addition, Ronald St-Jean denounced the ill treatment inflicted recently upon two other journalists by armed individuals in the populist district of Bel-Air.  

AHP January 19, 2005 2:40 PM

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Forwarded by the Haitian Lawyers’ Leadership Network

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