HAITI IS VIOLATING FORMER PRIME MINISTER YVON NEPTUNE’S HUMAN RIGHTS

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
Contact outside Haiti: Brian Concannon, Esq., Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti 541-432-0597, 541-263-0029 (U.S.), brian [at] ijdh.org
Contact in Haiti: Mario Joseph, Esq., Bureau des Avocats Internationaux, + 509 3701-9879, mariohaiti [at] aol.com

INTER-AMERICAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS DECLARES HAITI IS VIOLATING FORMER PRIME MINISTER YVON NEPTUNE’S HUMAN RIGHTS; ORDERS $95,000 IN DAMAGES AND COSTS

Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 10, 2008—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.

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http://www.HaitiJustice.org

A pali papa!
Se pa yon sekrè pou pèsonn ke PREVAL ak "konseye GNBIS" li yo te kenbe NEPTUNE lan yon limbo la Jistis pou te fèmen dyòl li.
Se te menm bagay lan Preval ak asosye GNBis li yo te fè Pè Janjis.
Eske te gen yon paspouki,yon fè pou mwen ma fè pou wou ,ant Preval ak gouvènman de facto an;paske si mesye sa yon te anlibète,pa t gen chaj sou tèt yo, se youn ladan yo wi ki t ap lan palè an aktyèlman,pa Preval.
Kòm yo di ,pa gen sekrè ankò,yon jou n a konnen!

Se pou yo kale Neptune 95000 dola lan,menm jan yo te fòse Aristide peye plis ke yon milyon dola bay mesye Pati Politik yo!

Kakakok mwen twouve wou amer ces jou ci . kisa ki fe 'w konsa..

Neptune a bel et bien profite d'un gouvernement corrompu qu'etait celui d'Aristide/Neptune. Les deux devraient etre juges pour malversations et vols de deniers de l'etat et vol de confiance du peuple haitien. Certains Haitiens conprenent maintenant qui est Aristide et ne veulent plus entendre parler de lui. D'autres, malheureusement, ne comprennent pas jusqu'a present que Aristide a plusieurs visages. Quelle pitie !. Neptune etait bel et bien complice de Aristide dans le commerce illicite de drogue et d'assasinats. Jacques Ketant, le fameux drogue dealer, n'est -il pas "une cocotte d'Aristide"? Neptune et Aristide ouvrent encore leur bouche, parceque le gouvernement haitien n'a jamais eu une justice qui fonctionne comme dans tout autre pays. Si Haiti doit payer a Neptune, Neptune doit dedommager le peuple Haitien pour l'avoir trompe et continue a le tromper.
Neptune joue son jeu. De complicite avec les haitiens malhonnetes qui parlent de "peuple" avant de prendre le pouvoir et oublie tout des le premier jour qu'ils mettent leurs fesses sur le fauteuil presidentiel. Ils trouvent une femme de teint clair, type bourgeois, achetent des villas, de montant qui depassent leur revenu, dans des pays etrangers. Ne vivons nous pas le cas maintenant et avant. Cela a toujours ete ainsi.
Neptune n'est pas une victime, mais bien complice de la misere du peuple haitien.
Neptune prepare sa compagne presidentielle pour les prochaines elections. Alors il se pose en victime. Audacieux. Qui vivra, verra. PAUVRE HAITI, ET CEUX QUI NE PEUVENT PAS COMPRENDRE. TO HELL WITH NEPTUNE.