This week in Haiti
Justice Still Sluggish in
Dominique Murder Case
April 3, 2001, the first anniversary of the assassination of Radio Haiti Inter's director Jean Dominique and his guardian Jean-Claude Louissaint, was commemorated by events all over Haiti.
Memorial masses, sit-ins, special radio programs, film showings, petitions, photo exhibits, art shows, marches, and press conferences were held in many towns including Croix-des-Bouquets, Gonaïves, Anse d'Hainault, Thomassin, and Port-au-Prince.
KOZEPEP, a peasant organization to which Dominique was politically close, has been one of the leading organizations in the national mobilization demanding justice for Jean Dominique. In an April 2 press conference, Charles Suffrat, the group's chief spokesman, said that KOZEPEP had received numerous threats from sectors which he did not identify. Faced with the possibility of violence, the organization canceled a march planned for the anniversary. Over one thousand peasants from different provinces were to have converged on the capital to demand justice for Dominique and the revival of efforts for agrarian reform, a cause which Dominique championed.
"Our delegates around the country have been the target of intimidation and pressure in the course of their consciousness-raising among peasants, in making sure that the state apparatus functions in the interests of the peasants, and in following how national production advances," Suffrat said. He also vowed that peasants would not allow themselves to be bowed by such intimidation.
The Association of Haitian Journalists (AJH) did manage to organize a peaceful march through the capital on April 3 to demand justice for their assassinated colleague. Chanting "Justice yes! Impunity, no!", the demonstrators marched from the Champs de Mars, the city's central square, to the Justice Ministry, where AJH secretary general Guyler Delva demanded that Justice Minister Garry Lissade take swift and determined action to advance the investigation. The demonstrators then continued their march through the city to a final rally in front of Radio Haïti Inter.
The day before, the AJH and other journalists had met with President Jean-Bertrand Aristide at the National Palace. Aristide agreed to endorse the "Declaration of Chapultepec," an Organization of American States (OAS)-sponsored document drawn up in Mexico in 1994 which sets forth principles for a free press in the hemisphere. Aristide also agreed to decree April 3 as the new "National Day of the Haitian Press," another journalist demand. Nothing more than these symbolic gestures came out of the meeting. In his remarks, the president emphasized that Jean Dominique, in the days before his murder, was focusing his investigations on and editorials against a foreign-instigated "electoral coup d'état."
Tributes to Dominique even came from overseas. Former executive secretary of the MICIVIH, Rodolfo Maratorollo, called Radio Haiti from his new post in Sierra Leone. "Jean was a leading figure, Haiti's most brilliant journalist, a great intellectual, and a militant for the cause of human rights and democracy," Maratorollo said. "I hope that one day this assassination will be truly explained, that an investigation will be concluded, and that the guilty will be brought to trial. Enough journalists have died under assassins' bullets."
Director Jonathan Demme also premiered his new documentary film «The Agronomist» about Dominique's life and death. In showings at the Impérial Theatre on April 2 and the Rex Théâtre on April 3, Haitian audiences were moved to tears. Interviews with the journalist before his murder and with his family and friends afterwards are intercut with verité footage of recent Haitian history to offer a deeply personal portrait of Dominique's political passion.
Meanwhile, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) presented a report entitled "Haiti: Who Killed Jean Dominique?" after a week-long mission of inquiry into the assassination from March 19-25.
The RSF met with people such as the Dominique's widow and journalistic collaborator Michèle Montas, investigating judge Claudy Gassant, and Senator Dany Toussaint, who has been called more than anyone else to testify before investigators.
The RSF report comes shortly after a controversial one released by the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA), the OAS press arm, and written by Ana Arana. Her report alleges that Toussaint is the principal suspect in the case. Last week, Toussaint wrote an open letter refuting Arana's charges and story.
"Jean was killed because he was uncontrollable," Michèle Montas told the RSF. "And he had the means to prevent many people from making lots of money."
Dominique had many enemies, declared and potential, the RSF report makes clear. He had questioned whether Léopold Berlanger, the director of right-wing USAID-supported Radio Vision 2000, was preparing an "electoral coup d'état" when he headed the National Council of Observers (NCO) in last May's parliamentary elections; he did exposés about poisoned medicines distributed by a medical firm, Pharval, implicating the powerful businessman Reginald Boulos; he made a scathing editorial against Dany Toussaint; and the Duvalierist Radio Liberté of Serge Beaulieu even made on-air threats against Dominique.
"The assassination was planned over the course of several meetings," the RSF revealed. Of the 70 to 80 people investigated, six have been indicted, including two policemen.
"The delegation of Reporters Without Borders noted that on several occasions the investigation has been met by stonewalling, pressure and troubling episodes," the report concludes.
The RSF made the following recommendations:
- That the Haitian government should guarantee the protection of all persons linked to the investigation and devote more financial resources to the investigation
- That the legislative branch should respect the independence of the judicial branch (last month, some parliamentarians argued that Sen. Toussaint should be immune from investigation).
- That the executive branch should enforce the decisions of the judicial branch no matter whom justice indicts.
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