OAS » IACHR » Special Rapporteurship for Freedom of Expression » Haiti

Freedom of Expression

Haiti

           152.     On July 23, the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, Eduardo Bertoni, released the Report on Freedom of Thought and Expression in Haiti, which was prepared by the Rapporteurship and approved by the IACHR.[1]

 

            153.     The report established that in Haiti, freedom of expression does not enjoy all the guarantees necessary for its full exercise.  Impunity in cases of assassinations of journalists, as well as the constant possibility of receiving threats because of what one investigates or disseminates, creates a climate of self-censorship.  In addition, the report established that the State has breached its obligation to identify, prosecute, and punish the persons responsible for the assassinations and acts of harassment of journalists.

 

            Attacks and threats

 

            154.     Attacks on and threats to the press in Haiti led the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression to issue two press releases, one in February and the other in October 2003.  Nonetheless, throughout the year the Rapporteurship received information on threats, attacks, and intimidation of journalists.[2]

 

            155.     On February 14, 2003, Jean-Robert François, of Radio Métropole, Henry Fleurimond, of Radio Kiskeyah, and Jeaniton Guerino and Gedeon Presendien of Radio Étincelles, crossed the border at Jimaní, from Haiti to the Dominican Republic, seeking refuge.  They had apparently been taken from Gonaives to Port-au-Prince with the help of the Police and the Association des Journalistes Haitiens.  The four were part of a group of seven persons who were being sought by the Armee Cannibale (“Cannibal Army”) to be assassinated because of reports on its actions and on the precarious conditions in Haiti.  The others being sought by that group are Joué Rene, of Radio Signal FM, and René Noel-Jeune and Esdras Mondelus, of Radio Étincelles.  The first traveled to France, the second went to the United States, and the third is operating the radio station from an undisclosed location.[3]

 

            156.     In early February 2003, unidentified persons entered the studios of Radio Shekinah, on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince, and severely beat the director, Manés Blanc, who had to be hospitalized.  The assailants said that the action against him was due to his commentaries on the political situation in Haiti.[4]

 

            157.     On February 14, 2003, alleged followers of the governing party attempted to set fire to the home of Radio Métropole reporter Jean-Numa Goudou, located in Carrefour.  He had been threatened before.[5]

 

            158.     In February and December 2003, reports were received concerning intimidation of and threats to Radio Métropole journalist Nancy Roc.  A similar incident had occurred in December 2002.[6]

 

            159.     On February 18, 2003, Radio Métropole decided to suspend its broadcasts for one day, in protest over the intimidation of and threats to its journalists.[7]

 

            160.     Michèle Montas, director of Radio Haiti Inter and widow of journalist Jean Dominique, assassinated in 2000, stated that she continued receiving threats that put her staff in imminent danger.  Accordingly, on Saturday, February 22, 2003, Radio Haiti Inter interrupted its broadcasts indefinitely.[8]

 

            161.     On April 30, 2003, Lilianne Pierre-Paul, director of Radio Kiskeyah, was intimidated by members of the popular organizations.  An unknown person entered the radio station and threw a letter at her that contained a message to the president of France, Jacques Chirac, dated April 25.  Pierre-Paul was given four days to read the letter and respond, and was told that if she failed to do so she would pay the consequences on May 6.  The letter also contained a bullet for a 12-caliber pistol.[9]

 

            162.     On Wednesday, August 27, 2003, two armed persons abducted Radio Vision 2000 and Radio Pasion journalist Peterson Milord, who was found two days later, unharmed but naked and tied to sugar cane 30 kilometers from Port-au-Prince.[10]  Days earlier, during a mass in Santa Rosa de Lima, in Léogane, attended by President Jean Bertrand Aristide, priest Fritz Sauvaget ordered him to leave.  The Association of Haitian Journalists (AJH, by its French acronym) stated that during his detention Milord had been threatened that he would have more problems if he continued to criticize Father Sauvaget.[11]

 

            163.     On the occasion of the anniversary of the September 30, 1991 coup, information came out on attacks scheduled for the following day against several radio stations.[12]  Secretary of Public Safety Jean Gérard Dubreuil and Mario Dupuy, Secretary of Communication, reported that police protection would be given the media that were under threat.

 

            164.     Cyrus Sibert, a journalist with Radio Maxima, reported that on October 25, 2003, unknown persons opened fire on the radio station’s offices.  The staff had been targets of recurrent threats.[13]

 

            165.     On October 27, 2003, Patrick Tavien, reporter for Radio Maxima, said he had been followed by armed men.[14]

 

            166.     On Tuesday, October 28, 2003, at night, unknown persons opened fire on the offices of Radio Caraïbes in Port-au-Prince.  No one was wounded.  The next day, the station suspended its broadcasts to evaluate the situation and ensure the journalists’ security.  The programming resumed on November 3.[15]

 

            167.     On November 12, 2003, at approximately 1:30 p.m., partisans of the opposition arrived at the offices of Radio Pyramide in Saint Marc and destroyed the station’s equipment.  According to information received by the Rapporteurship, the police had to intervene to rescue the director, Fritzon Orius, and about ten journalists who work there.  Finally, the offices were set ablaze, and so it stopped broadcasting.[16]

 

            Investigations

 

            168.     On March 21, 2003, a formal indictment was handed down against six persons suspected of being the direct perpetrators of the assassination of Jean Léopold Dominique, journalist and founder of Radio Haiti Inter, who was assassinated on April 3, 2000.[17]  On August 4 the Court of Appeals of Port-au-Prince ordered a new investigation to determine the masterminds of that crime.[18]  Subsequently, the Court also ordered the release of three of the suspects for lack of sufficient evidence to keep them in prison.[19]

 

            169.     In September 2003, Nappla Saintil was designated the new investigative judge in the case looking into the assassination of Jean Léopold Dominique.[20]

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