CONGRESSIONAL RIGHTISTS AND U.S. EMBASSY DEFEND A TORTURER

Gen. Prosper Avril, the former military dictator of Haiti, rests comfortably under the diplomatic protection of the Colombian Embassy in Port-au-Prince. Along with such high profile cases like that of coup leader Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras or the notorious former Port-au-Prince police chief Col. Michel Francois, his case again illustrates how the “international community” in all of its various guises — the MINUHA (the U.N. Mission in Haiti), the MICIVIH (the International Civilian Mission), CivPol (Civilian Police), or U.S. Special Forces — has been actively protecting criminals.

The case of Avril, though, has a special twist. For once, the Haitian government actually tried to take some action against one of the thousands of criminals who continue to live and prosper in Haiti today. After a Duvalierist hit-squad gunned down Lavalas deputy Jean Hubert Feuille in Port-au-Prince on Nov. 7, the Haitian people took to the streets in outrage. President Aristide moved against Avril, who had been organizing former Tonton Macoutes and was suspected in the attack on Feuille.

But at least one U.S. official went to Avril’s house and reportedly warned him of the impending Haitian police raid. The U.S. Embassy maintains that the official was on a “routine” visit to Avril’s house on the night that Haitian authorities arrived to arrest him. Other reports suggest that U.S. forces were dispatched to ensure Avril’s safety and brought him to Colombian authorities.

The Haitian government has refused Avril safe passage to a third country and the stalemate at the Colombian Embassy shows no signs of breaking.

Meanwhile, two U.S. Congressmen, Rep. Dan Burton and Rep. Robert Torricelli, are agitating on Avril’s behalf. They sent letters to the Haitian government and the U.S. Embassy demanding protection for Avril. The following are excerpts from a letter by the Lowenstein Human Rights Law Clinic at Yale University to the congressmen, who, along with the U.S. Embassy in Haiti, have sought to protect a criminal and a fugitive from justice in both Haiti and the U.S..

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The Honorable Dan Burton Chairman, Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere United States House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515

The Honorable Robert Torricelli Ranking Minority Member Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere United States House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515

January 15, 1996

Dear Congressman Burton and Congressman Torricelli,

We recently saw your Nov. 27, 1995 letter to Ambassador Swing and Nov. 29, 1995 letter to President Aristide on behalf of General Prosper Avril, and write to express our concern. We agree that the rights of all Haitian citizens should be guaranteed and protected. We are troubled, however, by your decision to focus on the case of General Avril, who is currently flouting a judgement of a U.S. federal court and is under investigation by the Haitian justice ministry in connection with atrocious human rights violations committed from September 1988 to March 1990 after General Avril came to power in a military coup d’etat. In fact, it is well-documented by the U.S. and Haitian governments and international human rights organizations that General Avril has been, and continues to be, a dangerous threat to the human rights of Haitian citizens and the future of Haitian democracy. Your implication that the Government of President Aristide is somehow threatening the security of General Avril and other “political opponents” is wholly unsubstantiated by your letter.

On July 1, 1994 the U.S. District Court for the Southern District in Florida (Wilkie J. Ferguson, Jr.) held that General Avril was personally responsible “for the interrogation and torture of each of the plaintiffs”, as well as for “a systematic pattern of egregious human rights abuses in Haiti during his military rule.” General Avril was ordered to pay the six plaintiffs a total of $41,000.000 in damages, an order with which he has still not complied and of which he is currently in violation. (…)

The plaintiffs in that suit were leaders from a broad spectrum of Haitian civil society. Evans Paul, former mayor of Port-au- Prince; Jean Auguste Mesyeux, co-founder of the Autonomous Federation of Haitian Workers; Marino Etienne, a former sergeant in the Presidential Guard; Gerald Emile Brun, leader of the KONAKOM political party; Serge Gilles, founder of the PANPRA political party; and Fernard Gerard Laforest, a physician engaged in rural development work. All were viciously beaten and tortured at Avril’s command, and have continued to suffer physically and psychologically afterwards. At one point during the ordeal a soldier placed a walkie-talkie next to plaintiff Etienne’s ear “so he could confirm for himself that the voice on the other end was that of defendant Avril”….

In its Nov. 1990 report “Paper Laws, Steel Bayonets”, the Lawyers Committee for Human Right, found that “Lt. Gen. Avril’s 18-month reign was marked by the steady deterioration of human rights. Accounts of extrajudicial killings, torture, illegal arrests and detention and attacks on journalists and reporters poured in from every section of the country.” In January 1990 Avril declared a state of emergency and suspended key civil liberties provisions in the Constitution and “numerous human rights workers and political opponents of the military government were seized, beaten, tortured and deported.” Significantly, the U.S. House of Representatives of which you are members found this behavior so condemnable that on Feb. 20, 1990 it passed a resolution condemning the Avril government “for its arrests, beatings, and forced exile of opposition leaders, its abridgement of civilian and political rights for Haitian citizens, and its blatant disregard for the Haitian constitution and international law.”

According to Secretary of State Warren Christopher in a recently reported cable to Ambassador Swing, U.S. intelligence has information that the “Red Star” organization, under the guidance of General Avril, was recently “planning harassment and assassination campaign directed at the Lavalas party and Aristide supporters. The campaign is scheduled to commence in early December 1995.” Thus, far from being just a “political rival” of President Aristide, General Avril is at the very heart of violent efforts to block Haitians from developing their democracy in peace. Avril is seeking to free Haiti to avoid any accountability for his well-documented human rights abuses and because his current illegal activities have been exposed by the U.S. and Haitian governments.

All possible U.S. support should be given to legal efforts by the Haitian government to investigate this case, and to subject General Avril to the Haitian and U.S. judicial systems. General Avril’s effort to obtain political asylum in Colombia is yet another attempt to avoid accountability. It is settled international law that persecutors of others are not entitled to asylum as political refugees. See UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees at Article 1(F). Appropriate action should be taken to block General Avril’s attempt to obtain political asylum in Colombia or any other country. If Colombia grants political asylum to Avril – an act that would violate the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, to which both Colombia and the United States are a party – he will be immune from trial or extradition for his numerous human rights violations. (See the attached letter from the Comision Andina de Juristes: Secional Colombiana). Every effort should be made to ensure that Gen. Avril does not yet again thwart U.S., Haitian, and international Law. (…)

Sincerely yours Harold Hongju Koh Ronald C. Slye

For the Lowenstein international Human Rights Law Clinic and the following:

Gay McDougall, International Human Rights Law Group Jocelyn McCalla, National Center for Haitian Rights Beth Stephens, Jennifer Green, Center for Constitutional Rights Barbara Frey, Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights

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