Nov. 2, 2006
Dear HURAH member:
Imagine my surprise when Judge Jean Peres Paul answered his phone personally on Monday and told me that he had issued a decision on the Grand Ravine case! In fact the decision was rendered on Oct. 19th. My immediate thought was, boy are we sleeping at the switch or what? I had been led to believe from all my sources that his inaction after last March (letting the police, the only defendants, go on personal recognizance) was the end of his involvement. Although I knew of there being an intention to refile the case, asking for a new judge, this strategy wasn't underway. All the more reason for the need for a comprehensive strategy involving all of us.
Imagine my surprise next--not that Peres Paul had decided to let the police go totally free as of Oct 19, 2006--but that he had also put all of the civilians, described in the official police report as "bandits terrorizing the neighborhood", in jail and referred them to the criminal court.
So we have a mixed result. Below I'm pasting the FAX I have sent to the government prosecutor, Mr. Gassant, asking him to do something about this and the new massacre case as well as the assassination of Bruner.
Thank you for your continued support. Any ideas or further personal actions you can take will be appreciated although I'm representing you in everything I do.
I'll try to post news on our website as it comes through. We're in a new and most demanding phase at this point.
Thanks,
Tom
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FAX
To: Atty. Claudy Gassant, Government Prosecutor
From: Tom Luce, President, Hurah, Inc.
Re: Decision of Judge Peres Paul on the Grand Ravine Case
Date: Nov. 2, 2006
CC: Pres. Préval, PM Alexis, Mr. Magloire, Mr. Andresol, Judge Peres Paul, Mr. Fagart, Louise Arbour, Amnesty International, Front Line, IJDH, AUMOHD
Distinguished Attorney Gassant:
Please accept my best wishes during these days that are so important in the first months of your administration.
I'm writing you because I've just learned of the decision rendered by Judge Jean Peres Paul (Oct. 19/06) regarding the Grand Ravine case that he has freed the police accused in the matter. This fact confuses me greatly and so I am asking you to do everything possible to personally reopen this crushing case. Judge Peres Paul told me personally that the matter now rests with you. I wish to acknowledge him for giving out this information and for having finally made this decision.
Certainly your administration had nothing to do with this case in the beginning and I understand well that even now you are at the beginning of your mandate. But given the enormity and atrocity of this case clearly perpetrated by officers of the State, and given that the second massacre in this unhappy community happened less than a year later--during your watch-- and finally because the coordinator the the Community Human Rights Council of Grand Ravine (CHRC-GR), Esterne BRUNER, was assassinated for his efforts to seek justice in this case, therefore it is absolutely clear that a completely special and energetic action must be undertaken by you.
In the official report of the Haitian National Police it says:
"III. B. Conduct of the policemen engaged in the operation. 1. The policemen having participated in the operation carried out by the Haitian National Police at St. Bernadette Park, particularly those who had taken charge of the soccer field and its main gate, bear, to differing degrees, their own responsibility for the process that led to the events that took place as a result of their intervention....-the members of the little group called, "Little Machete Army" carried out their intervention armed with machetes, sticks and firearms without the policemen doing anything to stop these acts and instead appearing to be at least passively complicit, if not actually cooperating;...no action was taken by the policemen to lend assistance to the spectators at this sports event who, clearly, were in danger."
The results of this report, done, by the way, with a remarkable professionalism under extremely difficult conditions for the Director General of the Haitian National Police, Mr. Mario Andresol, merit a much more rigorous attention than that of Judge Peres Paul. The victims and the world observers of the pursuit of justice in Haiti clamor this attention from you. I ask you, Mr. Prosecutor, to place all your energies into the comprehensive pursuit of this case. This involves, of course, an effective protection of the witnesses and the members of the CHRC-GR as well as for the members of AUMOHD who give voluntarily of their services, even their lives to obtain justice. This also involves social services support so that the witnesses might be able to obtain all the documents necessary to act as official witnesses. According to my amateur knowledge of Haitian law there is a need for an action on your part to initiate the services of the police.
Moreover the pursuit of the second massacre in Grand Ravine, all the more outrageous than the first with 22 victims dead and more than 200 homes torched, must be set in motion. I ask you to launch an appeal to the rest of the government offices to come to the aid of this community besieged twice and now three times with no end in sight it would seem. Thousands of refugees have been created and they are without housing. The acts of terror have been enormous and the near total inaction by the authorities, Haitian and UN, until now is inexcusable. To say that it is a matter of deadly conflicts between armed groups is not an excuse for this inaction. There has been and still is a group of citizens and AUMOHD who are not partisan, who follow a belief in non-violence and the law. These people, still courageous in the face of death threats, greatly deserve a high level of cooperation with all the authorities.
In conclusion I acknowledge that Judge Peres Paul has retained for the criminal court many of the civilians accused in the matter and I wish to acknowledge that this is a step forward in rendering justice. Given the fact that these same civilians are accused in the number 2 case, I hope that the two cases will be able to be pursued jointly.
I also wish to acknowledge the many difficulties and the gigantic obstacles you face as the one who has inherited this case. Please, Mr. Prosecutor, accept my most respectful regards.
I would be very grateful if you could give me notice of receiving this fax and also the number/e-mail of a representative from your office. Please use 510-428-1419 (fax/phone) or <hurah_inc@riseup.net>.
Thank you for your attention.
I am,
Tom Luce�