Haitian Prime Minister Yvon Neptune finally Released from Jail

Caricom welcomes release of Haiti's former leader, criticizes 'arbitrary' detentions

By The Associated Press, July 30 2006, Georgetown, Guyana:

The Caribbean Community regional group has welcomed former Haitian prime minister Yvon Neptune's release from jail but criticized the "arbitrary" detentions of other prisoners in the troubled country, the group said in a statement.

Neptune was released from a Haitian jail Thursday, more than two years after he was arrested on charges of orchestrating the killing of opponents of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide at the start of a rebellion that engulfed the country.

But Neptune's release "should not obscure the fact that a large number of persons supportive of former President Aristide arrested arbitrarily for what appeared to be political reasons under the interim administration have also been denied justice," the 15-member group, known as Caricom, said.  [...]

Still, the group praised Haiti's new President Rene Preval, who took power in May, for efforts in strengthening the nation's judicial system.

Neptune's release came a day after the regional alliance announced plans to give Haiti US$17 million (euro13 million) as part of an international effort to aid the impoverished nation of some 8 million people.

The perpetrators of this injustice against the elected prime minister was the interim regime installed by the United States and supported by the so-called international community.  This inversion of law and liberty was also accepted with nary a word of protest by our freedom-loving media.  For black-and-white subversion of democracy by the United States and other would-be world powers, one doesn't have to look farther than Haiti.

Port-au-Prince, March 6, 2007 (AHP)- The Committee of Lawyers for the Respect of Public Liberties (CARLI) praised the decision Tuesday of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR), ruling that reparations and compensation should be paid by the legitimate government of Haiti to former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, whose imprisonment followed by prolonged preventive detention was found to be illegal.  

Mr. Neptune was arrested by the Latortue regime's Minister of Justice, Bernard Gousse, and maintained in prison for close to three years following accusations made against him by organizations and individuals reputed to be close to the the Latortue government such as NCHR/Haiti and  RAMICOSM.

He was accused four months after the forced departure of President Aristide of responsibility in an alleged massacre said to have been perpetrated on February 11, 2004 in a district of Saint-Marc named La Scierie (96 km north of  Port-au-Prince).

According to CARLI Secretary General Renan Hédouville, the Haitian authorities should comply with this decision because, he said, it may not be appealed and the authority and jurisdiction of the CIDH was recognized by the Haitian State on March 3, 1998.  

The ruling must be respected in its entirety given the constraining nature of the text of the decision, declared Mr. Hédouville.

Several local and international sectors have said that senior officials of the de facto regime who kept Mr. Neptune in prison arbitrarily, risking his life, should be prosecuted wherever they are, along with those who invented the massacre of La Scierie.