Ex-Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide appears in court, draws crowd

Posted on Wed, May. 08, 2013

Ex-Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide appears in court, draws crowd
By Jacqueline Charles
jcharles@MiamiHerald.com


Dieu Nalio Chery / AP Photo

Supporters of Haiti's former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide hold up pictures of him as they gather around Aristide's car who leaves the courthouse in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, May 8, 2013.

The two-time president showed up at the courthouse to testify before a judge investigating the 2000 slaying of Jean Dominique, one of the Caribbean country's most prominent journalists.
Along Rue Champ de Mars, he waved to cheering crowds from his slow-moving, police-escorted motorcade.

And in Bel Air and St. Martin, gang-infested former strongholds overlooking the empty grounds of the razed presidential palace, he blew kisses from the rooftop of an SUV.

Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, 59, used a rare public appearance in Haiti’s capital Wednesday to show that he could still draw a crowd.

“The Haitian people love him and today they showed their affection and attachment to him,”
Dr. Maryse Narcisse, Aristide’s spokeswoman, told The Miami Herald as the motorcade crept through Delmas 2 with thousands in tow.
“Since this morning, they’ve been accompanying him.”

Aristide’s tour of Port-au-Prince came after a three-hour, closed-door audience with a Haitian investigative judge, who summoned him as part of the ongoing murder investigation into the unsolved assassination of agronomist-turned-famous journalist Jean Léopold Dominique.

At the insistence of Dominique’s widow, former radio journalist Michèle Montas, Judge Yvickel Dabresil has been trying to determine the “intellectual author” behind Dominique’s murder and that of a security guard 13 years ago in the courtyard of Dominique’s Radio Haiti-Inter in Port-au-Prince.

“It has been a long, bloody and tortuous investigation but I feel there is now a light at the end of the tunnel.
Will we ever find justice? I don’t know but I think we have moved forward,” Montas said.

“I hope this testimony and other crucial ones the judge has gathered in the last few months will allow the truth to finally come out on who engineered, planned the assassination and paid for the crime.”

Narcisse, who accompanied Aristide inside the courthouse, declined to say what was discussed during the secret testimony.

“Jean-Dominique was a friend, a brother to him,” Narcisse said about Aristide. “He believes that as a citizen when the justice summons him, it is his duty to collaborate … Today was an occasion for him to exercise his right as a citizen by being present in court.”

But Aristide is no ordinary Haitian citizen.
The founder and head of Fanmi Lavalas, once the most powerful political party in Haiti, Aristide was twice exiled during his two separate presidencies.

Today, two years after his surprise return to Haiti following seven years in exile in South Africa, Aristide’s popularity and that of his fractured Lavalas party remain topics of debate in Haiti and outside.

“Lavalas today showed proof of our slogan: by ourselves, we are weak. Together we are strong,”
said Sen. Francky Exius, referring to the thousands who followed the motorcade and lined the capital’s streets.

But while Exius and others hailed Wednesday’s relatively peaceful show of force as a “political victory” against what they say is a politically motivated maneuver by Haitian President Michel Martelly’s government to persecute their former leader, others say it was an exercise in democracy in a fragile Haiti.

“What is taking place today brings neither positive nor negative value to the Lavalas party, which lost the power many years ago and has not, since then, influenced the political, economic, and legal environment,” said Michel Eric Gaillard, a Port-au-Prince-based political analyst.

“The Lavalas party is remembered as a dividing force. It remains to be seen whether they have the capacity to reinvent themselves and attract significant votes in the next election.”

The party, after boycotting past elections, has said that it plans to participate in the upcoming senatorial and local elections, and some speculate that after shying away from the public, Aristide may be ready to reengage politically.

That engagement would come as Martelly, a nemesis and former musician, prepares to mark two years in office on May 14, and continues to struggle to have Haiti break with the past as demonstrated by the large turnout in favor of his political rival.

The Martelly administration did not comment on the latest developments.
The day before, Police Chief Godson Orelus announced a ban on protests.
The announcement triggered tensions in the capital where police patrolled several slums where sympathizers had set up barricades and began burning tires.

That evening, hundreds stood vigil outside Aristide’s home in Tabarre, a suburb of Port-au-Prince, according to local journalists. The supporters called it a night of solidarity with the ex-president, who fled Haiti into exile in 2004 amid a bloody coup.

On Wednesday, hundreds including opposition lawmakers accompanied Aristide as he arrived at the downtown courthouse at 8:15 a.m. He stepped out of his vehicle minutes before 9 a.m. and walked into the judge’s chambers as a heavy police presence stood outside.
By the time Aristide emerged three hours later, the crowd had grown to several thousands in Port-au-Prince and supporters also had taken to the streets in the northern city of Cap-Haitien. Aristide, a Roman Catholic priest before his 1990 presidential bid, did not speak to journalists.

Earlier, his team had announced a news conference and corralled waiting journalists into a sauna-like courtroom.
But the move turned out to be a diversion to allow the ex-leader to leave without making a statement about his secret testimony to Dabresil, who has summoned a long list of persons including former President René Préval who testified last month.

Préval, a close friend of Dominique’s who reopened the case during his 2006-2011 presidency, spent about four hours inside the judge’s chambers. Afterward, he told The Miami Herald it was only natural for the judge to call him, given his close relationship with the activist.
He was the second former Haitian president to appear in court in weeks.
In February, former dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier answered questions about his dictatorial past as part of an appeals hearing. He’s fighting to avoid standing trial on corruption charges, and dozens of alleged victims of his regime also want the court to try him on human rights abuses. The appearance came after Duvalier had repeatedly refused to show up.
Like Aristide, Duvalier also returned to Haiti in 2011, after 25 years in exile in France — marking the first time in Haiti’s history that all of its living presidents are on the same island.

© 2013 Miami Herald Media Company. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.miamiherald.com

YO sezi wi jodia an .

Lisez ceci

Haïti-Justice : Jean Bertrand Aristide fait une démonstration de force à Port-au-Prince


Mercredi, 08 Mai 2013 17:07 SFD/HPN Nouvelles - Politique



Note des utilisateurs: / 1
MauvaisTrès bien




Après avoir répondu, pendant environ deux heures, aux questions du magistrat instructeur, Yvickel Dabrésil, l’ex-président lavalas, Jean Bertrand Aristide, a parcouru plusieurs rues de la capitale, en cortège, pour se rendre en sa résidence, à Tabarre, a observé Haïti Press Network.



Partant du cabinet d’instruction au Bicentenaire (centre ville de Port-au-Prince) accompagné de milliers de partisans, Jean Bertrand Aristide, dans son véhicule a fait le tour de plusieurs rues de Port-au-Prince pour se rendre chez lui, à Tabarre.

Le parcours, du Cabinet d’instruction à sa résidence privée, a duré environ quatre heures et demie.

Des agents de différentes unités de la Police nationale d’Haïti ont assuré la sécurité de la foule et de l’ex-président, malgré la direction générale de l’institution policière avait annoncé, mardi, l’interdiction de toute manifestation dans l’aire métropolitaine.

L’immense foule, suivi du cortège du leader des lavalassiens, de ses avocats et de ses proches, a particulièrement traversé la zone de Bel-Air – l’un des quartiers populaires de la capitale – où Jean Bertrand Aristide s’est arrêté pendant quelque seconde pour saluer (de la main, sans faire de déclaration) la population, massée pour l’ovationner.

« Vive Aristide […]. Il est le plus populaire. C’est notre président à vis », lance une vieillarde, assise à l’entrée de sa maisonnette, non loin de l’Église catholique Perpétuel.

Sur le parcours, les gens qui accompagnaient leur leader charismatique, qui criaient à tue tête des vives Aristide, vives lavalas, ont scandé des propos défavorables au président Michel Joseph Martelly, qu’ils pointent du doigt d’être à la base de l’invitation de Jean Bertrand Aristide au cabinet d’instruction.

« C’est la famille présidentielle et le président Martelly que la justice doit convoquer. Nous attendons que la justice puisse convoquer dans les prochains jours Olivier et Sophia Martelly, Laurent Lamothe, Roro Nelson et Gracia Delva pour leur implication [présumée] dans des dossiers. Leurs nom sont clairement cités », déclare Thimothé Rony, un militant politique.

Pour les proches de Jean Bertrand Aristide, l’invitation de leur leader est une persécution politique.

D’anciens et actuels parlementaires lavalas, tels : Yvon Buissereth, Louis Gérald Gilles (anciens sénateurs), et Jean Baptiste Bien-Aimé, Jean Charles Moise, John Joël Joseph, Pierre Francky Exius (actuels sénateurs) ont accompagné l’ex-président Aristide au cabinet d’instruction et ont fait tout le parcours avec lui.

L’un des avocats d’Aristide qui l’accompagnait au cabinet d’instruction, Newton Louis St Juste s’est dit réjouir de l’audition de son client dans le cadre de l’assassinat du journaliste Jean Léopold Dominique et du gardien de la radio Haïti Inter, Jean-Claude Louissaint, tous deux, assassinés le 3 avril 2000.

« Le président Aristide a répondu sans difficulté aux questions du juge d’instruction. Il a fourni toutes les informations que le juge a souhaité recueillir dans le cadre de son travail. Pour le moment, il n’y a aucune nouvelle invitation ni convocation », a fait savoir Newton Louis St Juste.

Il indique que « Jean Bertrand Aristide est toujours prêt à collaborer avec la justice ».

Depuis son retour d’exil en mars 2011, c’est pour la première fois que l’ex-président Jean Bertrand Aristide (qui a connu l’exil à deux reprises : 1991 et 2004) a fait un tour de la capitale avec ses partisans qui l’accompagnaient.




Sylvestre Fils Dorcilus

sylvestref.d@hpnhaiti.com

Twitter : @sfdorcilus / @hpnhaiti

Se pa pa aza ke ARISTIDE te fè yon rete sou BÈLÈ non.
Lan liv li an DAMMING THE FLOOD- HAITI AND THE POLITICS OF CONTAINMENT dr PETER HALLWARD konsakre preske yon CHAPIT a BELÈ.
Misye pase tan sou BELÈ ;li pale ak moun lan direksyon OGANIZASYON POPILÈ yo ak moun ki abite lontan sou KATYE an.
PETER HALLWARD eksplike ke BÈLÈ diferan de SITE SOLÈY ;misye di pou la plipa moun BÈLÈ yo pase LEKÒL e popilasyon an pa tranzyan ;gen de FANMI ki la depi dè jenerasyon a la diferans de SITE SOLÈY pa egzanp.
HALLWARD di li fè plizyè vwayaj lan BÈLÈ ;li pale ak moun lan òganizasyon popilè ;men tou li pale ak moun ke li rete lan la ri ""at random"" pou li pale ak yo pou wè jan moun yo panse.
HALLWARD di li te pale ak yon NÈG ki rele JEAN MARIE ;se te an 2006.
Men sa HALLWARD di ke JEAN MARIE di l:

We voted for Aristide,and he was kidnapped,IT'S AS SIMPLE AS THAT.Did he still deserve our fidelity?That's for us to decide,ON OUR OWN,
AND IT REMAINS INTACT.
From 1986 to this day,there has been no other leader who defended us as he did,who affirmed our convictions as he did.
LOOK AROUND YOU,YOU WILL SEE THAT EVERYONE HERE FEELS THE SAME WAY
Jean Marie te di HALLWARD sa an KREYÒL natirèlman.HALLWARD ki te deja fliyan an FRANSE te fè l sèten pou l aprann KREYÒL pou l konprann pi byen sa MOUN yo ap di

Le peuple a dit sans hésiter dans les rues de la capitale : vive Haiti lavalassement !

Voici l'homme du présent et l'avenir d'Haiti