"Haiti Violating Former PM Yvon Neptune's Human Rights" Says Inter-American Court on Human Rights

[magbana]

"Haiti is violating former PM Yvon Neptune's human rights" says court

IJDH - Port-au-Prince, Haiti — The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) sharply criticized Haiti's current and former governments for their treatment of former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune in its first-ever case involving Haiti. It found Haiti responsible for violating 11 different provisions of the American Convention on Human Rights and ordered the government to pay Mr. Neptune $95,000 in damages and costs.

The Inter-American Court's 60-page judgment, made public June 6, denounced nearly every aspect of the State's treatment of Mr. Neptune. It found that the Interim Government of Haiti (2004-2006) illegally imprisoned the former Prime Minister in inhumane conditions for two years. The Court found that Haiti's current constitutional government continues to violate Mr. Neptune's human rights by inexplicably failing to serve an April, 2007 appeals court decision that would help end Mr. Neptune's legal struggles. By refusing to serve the order, the Court said Haiti is keeping Mr. Neptune in a state of "absolute judicial insecurity" and perpetuating "an unjustifiable delay in access to justice."

"It is regrettable that the Inter-American Court's first case on Haiti finds that a democratic government is violating human rights," says Haitian attorney Mario Joseph of the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux, who appeared as an expert before the Court. "I hope the Préval administration uses this decision as an opportunity to end Mr. Neptune's persecution, free the remaining political prisoners detained since the Interim Government, and improve prison conditions."

Mr. Neptune was one of hundreds of political opponents imprisoned by the Interim Government of Haiti, which assumed power after the 2004 coup d'état against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Mr. Neptune spent 25 months in jail, almost half of it in the squalid and overcrowded National Penitentiary, on the orders of a judge who never had jurisdiction over his case, according to Haitian and international courts. Several of his co-defendants also have cases remaining against them; one is still in jail, four years after his arrest, with no trial in sight.

"Haiti's government certainly faces many challenges today," says Brian Concannon Jr., Mr. Neptune's lawyer before the IACHR. "But officials serve appeals court orders every day-- the government could easily do that tomorrow. The government could make a good-faith gesture by apologizing to a Prime Minister who has suffered four years of political persecution, and promising to end the persecution now."

"This decision shows the interim government's complete disregard of elementary due process, by carefully explaining how the government failed to live up to 11 different human rights standards" said Naomi Roht-Arriaza, Professor of Human Rights Law at the University of California Hastings College of Law (Professor Roht-Arriaza and Hastings students helped prepare Mr. Neptune's case). "The Inter-American Court demonstrates that Mr. Neptune never should have been arrested in the first place. At every step of the way, the justice system was distorted to keep a political opponent quiet."

The Court ordered Haiti to resolve Mr. Neptune's legal status as soon as possible, and to pay him a total of $95,000 in costs and damages. In addition, the Court ordered Haiti to begin bringing its prison conditions up to minimum international standards within two years. For more information on the decision, see IJDH's Background Paper.

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights, headquartered in San José, Costa Rica, judges claims of human rights abuse by the 22 countries in the Americas, including Haiti, that have submitted to its binding jurisdiction. Neptune v. the State of Haiti is the first case before the Court involving Haiti.

Contact outside Haiti: Brian Concannon, Esq., Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti 541-432-0597, 541-263-0029 (U.S.), [e-mail]
Contact in Haiti: Mario Joseph, Esq., Bureau des Avocats Internationaux, + 509 3701-9879, [e-mail]

http://haitiaction.net/News/IJDH/7_10_8/7_10_8.html

[struggle4progress]

1. National Lawyers Guild Applauds Inter-American Court Decision in Yvon Neptune v. Haiti

... “This decision demonstrates how the U.S.-supported Interim Government of Haiti abused the judicial process to lock a political opponent away in horrid conditions, without proof that he committed any crime,” said NLG President Marjorie Cohn. “Unfortunately, it also shows that Haiti’s current constitutional government is willing to keep Mr. Neptune in legal limbo. We hope this judgment will encourage Haiti to stop Mr. Neptune’s persecution and free the remaining political prisoners.”

Yvon Neptune was Prime Minister of Haiti from 2002-2004. After Haiti’s February 29, 2004 coup d’état, the U.S.-supported Interim Government of Haiti (IGH) imprisoned hundreds of political opponents, especially officials and supporters of the Lavalas party. Mr. Neptune was arrested on June 27, 2004, and spent two years in prison, surviving assassination attempts, prison riots and a hunger strike. The Haitian Appeals Court prosecutor found in June 2006 that there was no credible evidence of Mr. Neptune’s involvement in any crime. In April 2007, the Court of Appeals dismissed the case for lack of jurisdiction. But the Haitian government has refused to serve that order for 15 months. Mr. Neptune has been free on provisional release since July 27, 2006, but that status can be revoked and he risks being returned to prison at any time.

“This important opinion goes far beyond Mr. Neptune’s case,” said Moira Feeney of the NLG’s Haiti Subcommittee. “The IACHR found the daily conditions in Haiti’s prisons to be ‘inhuman’, and gave Haiti two years to start bringing prison conditions up to minimum standards. The Court also sharply criticized the routine, but inexcusable delays in Haiti’s criminal procedure. One of Mr. Neptune’s co-defendants has spent four years in jail, with no trial in sight" ...

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/07/14/18516071.php

[struggle4progress]

2. Massacre charges haunt former Haiti PM

n a Tuesday interview with The Associated Press, Neptune, who has maintains his innocence, said he believes political rivals have refused to drop charges of having "ordered and participated in the massacre" to prevent him from leading a reorganization of Aristide's Fanmi Lavalas political party ...

"I am not afraid of any constitutional, real judicial process," Neptune said at his rented villa in the mountains above Port-au-Prince ...

Neptune, who said he rarely leaves his mountaintop home for fear of re-arrest or reprisals, said he agreed to an interview in hopes of pressuring Haitian officials to resolve the case against him.

Neptune said he sometimes hosts Lavalas organizers at his home to discuss restoring the party — a feat he said would not require returning Aristide from exile in South Africa

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iTy_rGp3zDtfNb_xjKO_IPBeSG0QD91QPTD80

[magbana]

3. It's Unfortunate that this headline from the AP is being

carried throughout the world. It implies that Neptune was probably involved in a massacre. Of course the real headline should be "Former PM Yvon Neptune was arrested and incarcerated based on a trumped up charge by a fake human rights group funded by the US and Canada, the National Coalition on Haitian Rights and stayed in a sqaulid prison for 25 months as only one of hundreds of political prisoners. As a result, the IACHR found that his human rightss were violated by the illegal interim gov't. and sadly by the current democratically-elected gov't."

I know no headline will be that long, but AP could have said "IACHR Former PM Neptune's Human Rights Claims.""