Freedom of Expression

Haiti

1.      Between February 19 and 22, 2002, the Rapporteur’s office accompanied the Commission’s Executive Secretariat on a visit to Haiti to observe and gather information on the prevailing situation with respect to freedom of expression in that country and to draw up a preliminary evaluation for preparing future visits there by the IACHR.

2.      In light of the information received before, during, and after this visit, the Rapporteur believes that there are serious obstacles to full enjoyment of free expression in Haiti.  First of all, two journalists have been killed over the past two years.  A series of irregularities in the investigations of these assassinations has undermined the work of the justice system.  The investigations have been carried out against a worrying backdrop of intimidation and persecution against the judges and witnesses involved in the cases.  In addition, recent years have seen numerous attacks on journalists and different media outlets.  The Rapporteur is concerned that the victims of these attacks do not enjoy the minimal judicial protection necessary to clear up the incidents and make amends for the harm caused.

Assassinations

3.      Brignol Lindor, news editor of the private radio station Radio Echo 2000 in the town of Petit-Goâve, was murdered on December 3, 2001.  He was attacked with machetes and stones by a group of demonstrators while on his way to the station.  The journalist had received a series of threats from certain local officials after inviting members of the opposition to speak on his radio program.  These acts of intimidation were reported to the authorities, but, according to sources, the Haitian National Police took no preventive steps in connection with the allegations.[1] 

4.      Information provided by the Association of Haitian Journalists indicates that at a press conference held prior to the assassination, the deputy mayor of Petit-Goâve, Dumay Bony, had called on the population to set up surveillance brigades to support the police in implementing its “zero tolerance for terrorism” policy.  In addition, the deputy mayor had called on the population to go after Brignol Lindor because the journalist had been plotting against the people’s interest in order to promote the Democratic Convergence political party.  In the aftermath of Lindor’s slaying, the deputy mayor denied the allegations accusing him of instigating the crime.  However, the Association of Haitian Journalists reported that an eye-witness to Lindor’s murder, Mr. Love Augustin, claimed to have heard demonstrators refer to the deputy mayor’s speech and the enforcement of “zero tolerance” with respect to the journalist as the crime was being committed.[2] On February 14, 2002, the police arrested Sedner Sainvilus, a member of the local committee (Administration de la Section Communale, ASEC) of the Fanmi Lavalas party.  Sainvilus denied all involvement in the assassination and denied that he was a member of the Domi nan Bwa organization, the members of which had claimed responsibility for the assassination.[3]     

5.      The Special Rapporteur condemned this crime and asked the Haitian State to launch a serious, impartial, and effective investigation of the incident and to punish those responsible.[4]

6.      During the visit, the Rapporteur was also informed about progress with the investigation into the April 2000 assassination of journalist Jean Léopold Dominique.  The Rapporteur noted a series of irregularities in the investigation, including threats and acts of intimidation against judges and witnesses.[5] The investigation was assigned to judge Claudy Gassant after another two judges recused themselves from the case after receiving death threats.[6] One of the persons suspected of involvement in this assassination is Senator Dany Toussaint, who on several occasions has ignored summonses served on him, invoking parliamentary immunity.  In addition, Judge Gassant has conducted investigations into a number of political leaders and other Haitian citizens and has received numerous death threats.[7] According to reports, on June 8, 2001, a plot was uncovered to murder Judge Claude Gassing and Senator Prince Pierre Monsoon, a member of the Fanmi Lavalas party who has been calling for justice ever since the journalist Jean Dominique was killed. The absence of effective protective measures to ensure Judge Gassant’s personal safety forced him to resign on June 13, 2001; the resignation was, however, not accepted by the Minister of Justice.[8]

7.      In light of the judge’s defenselessness, on June 6, 2001, the Commission asked the Haitian State to adopt precautionary measures to protect his life and person.[9] In spite of the precautionary measures requested by the IACHR, the intimidation of Judge Gassant continued, as did the threats against him.[10] His judicial mandate expired on January 4, 2001, and the government did not renew it.  Finally, security concerns forced Gassant to leave the country.[11] The case was assigned to Judge Josiard Agnant.  As of the date of this report, the new judge continues to pursue his investigations and issue summonses.  As a part of this, he has summoned Senator Toussaint to make a statement.

8.      Different groups of journalists informed the Rapporteur of their concern about the numerous obstacles hindering a serious and impartial investigation of Jean Dominique’s murder.  Among these, they note that parliament took five months to reject the lifting of Senator Toussaint’s parliamentary immunity that Judge Gassant had requested, arguing that more information was needed.  Several human rights organizations have also asked the country’s president to renew Gassant’s mandate and to provide him with guarantees of personal security in discharging his duties.  According to the information received on April 1, 2002, President Aristide renewed Judge Gassant’s mandate in the case of Jean Dominique.[12]

9.      On repeated occasions, the Rapporteur has stated that the assassination of journalists is the most brutal way of curtailing freedom of expression.  It is media workers who make the keenest use of this right and, as a result, any attack on or aggression against their person constitutes a grave assault on free speech.  Such attacks have a paralyzing effect on society by preventing journalists from performing their duty of reporting on matters of public interest, which often include investigations into abuses, irregularities, and corruption on the part of public officials.

10.  Under the American Convention and other international legal instruments, states are obliged to conduct effective investigations into these assassinations and punish their perpetrators.  The Inter-American Court has ruled that such investigations:

Must have an objective and be assumed by the State as its own legal duty, not as a step taken by private interests that depends upon the initiative of the victim or his family or upon their offer of proof, without an effective search for the truth by the government. [13]

11.  In connection with this, the ninth principle of the IACHR’s Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression provides that:

The murder, kidnapping, intimidation of and/or threats to social communicators, as well as the material destruction of communications media violate the fundamental rights of individuals and strongly restrict freedom of expression. It is the duty of the state to prevent and investigate such occurrences, to punish their perpetrators and to ensure that victims receive due compensation.

12.  The Commission has ruled that a state’s failure to carry out an effective and complete investigation of the assassination of a journalist and to pursue criminal action against the planners and perpetrators thereof is particularly serious because of the impact it has on society.  Crimes like this serve to terrify other journalists and the citizenry in general alike, in that they give rise to apprehension about denouncing abuses, illegal acts, and outrages of all kinds.  This effect can only be avoided if states take decisive action in punishing those guilty of assassinating media workers.  In this way states can send their societies a strong, direct message, indicating that there will be no tolerance of those who perpetrate such serious violations of the right of free expression.[14]

Aggression and Threats

13.  At a January 9, 2001, press conference, leaders of organizations with ties to the Fanmi Lavalas party made public death threats against Liliane Pierre-Paul, the director and joint owner of the Kiskeya radio station, and Max Chauvet, the editor of the daily newspaper Le Nouvelliste.  According to reports, these organizations had a list of 129 leading figures from Haitian society who had been identified as government opponents, including the two journalists.  Reports also indicate that after the press conference, a container of gasoline was hurled into the yard of the Kiskeya radio station.[15]

14.  On April 20, 2001, around 300 armed individuals attacked radio stations—Lumière, Vision 2000, and Vision Nouvelle—in Ménélas, to the north of Port-au-Prince. During the attack the security guard of the Vision Nouvelle radio station was killed, and the watchmen at Lumière were injured.  In addition, the reports state that the radio stations themselves were vandalized, causing damage estimated at USD $200,000 to their radio equipment.  These stations had previously received threats over the telephone.[16]

15.  On June 9, 2001, the news director of radio station Signal FM in Port-au-Prince, Roosevelt Benjamin, received several threats after signing off from his weekly program Moment Vérité (“Moment of Truth”).  Mr. Benjamin reported that the threats were related to information broadcast on his program about possible ties between the Majority Civil Society Movement—a recently created political organization—and persons close to senators from the Fanmi Lavalas party.[17]

16.  On August 9, 2001, the journalists Liberus Renald and Claude François of the Rotation FM radio station in Belladères were physically attacked and then detained by police officers during a police raid on the station’s facilities.  On that occasion, the journalists refused to surrender a cassette belonging to the station and containing a statement made by a former soldier who had allegedly attacked police installations.  The journalists were held for three hours at the main police station in Belladères.[18]

17.  On August 27, 2001, Confident Fedner, a journalist with Radio Sacré-Coeur in the city of Thiotte, received death threats after reporting on the radio about alleged irregularities in the city’s municipal government.  Reports indicate that the journalist received the first threat on July 17 from one of the mayor’s security guards.  Since then, Fedner reports, he has been suffering harassment by groups with links to the mayor.[19]

18.  On October 2, 2001, journalist Jean Ronald Dupont from Radio Maxima FM received a bullet wound to the head while covering a demonstration in Cap-Haitien.  That same day, Radio Métropole correspondent Jean-Marie Mayard was attacked by a group linked to the Fanmi Lavalas party.  Information received indicates that Mayard was the tenth journalist in 2001 to be threatened or attacked by government-party sympathizers and in whose case no investigation was conducted.[20]

19.  On October 12, 2001, journalist Jean Robert Delciné of Radio Haïti Inter was insulted, physically attacked, and threatened with a firearm by police officer Yrvens César while showing his press credentials during a police operation in Cité Soleil, Port-au-Prince. The officer confiscated the reporter’s tape-recorder before releasing him.[21]

20.  On November 17, 2001, journalist Francine Leonard of Radio Métropole was attacked and threatened by members of the Fanmi Lavalas party.  The journalist attributed the attack to her critical reporting about the government party.[22]

21.  On November 25, 2001, journalist Evrard Saint-Armand from Radio Kiskeya was threatened and detained by police officers.  He had witnessed a clash between the police and a young man, in which the latter died.  According to the information received, the police beat the journalist during his interrogation and accused him of having caused the young man’s death.  The Association of Haitian Journalists reported that the officers “knew that Saint-Armand was at the scene of the incident in his capacity as a journalist.” He was released some hours later, after his professional gear had been destroyed.[23]

22.  On November 29, 2001, members of the pro-government organization OP (Popular Organizations) made death threats against the journalist Jean-Marie Mayard, a correspondent of Saint-Marc’s Radio Métropole.  According to reports, his assailants stated that “the journalist was guilty of not disseminating pro-government news.” Mayard was later briefly detained, for no apparent reason, by police officers from the Intervention and Order Maintenance Company (CIMO).  That same day, members of the OP attacked and threatened journalist Ernst Ocean of Radio Vision 2000, accusing him of working for the opposition Democratic Convergence party.[24]

23.  Following the attack on the presidential palace carried out by a group of former soldiers on December 17, 2001, journalists and the media in general have faced a new wave of attacks and threats.  According to reports, some stations have been forced to turn off their transmitters indefinitely for security reasons, while others have suspended their news coverage.[25] The radio station Caraïbes ceased broadcasting after its offices were stoned and its journalists threatened.[26] According to information received, some 25 journalists have left the country as a result of threats made since the events of December 17, 2001.[27]

24.  On December 17, 2001, some 12 journalists were attacked by supporters of the Fanmi Lavalas party during a demonstration against the attempted coup d’état.  The assaulted journalists included photographer Thony Bélizaire of Agence France Presse (AFP), Patrick Moussignac, Gérin Alexandre, and Jean-Elie Moléus, the director of Radio Caraïbes FM and reporters for that station, respectively, and the president of the Association of Haitian Journalists, Guyler Delva.  In addition, two vehicles belonging to the Telemax TV channel and Radio Métropole were attacked in the vicinity of the presidential palace.  The demonstrators, who were armed with sticks and guns, forced the journalists to withdraw amid threats.[28]

Intimidation

25.  In January 2001, the radio stations Caraïbes FM, Kiskeya, and Rotation FM received threats over the telephone.  According to reports, on December 23, 2001, Radio Caraïbes was forced to suspend its transmissions for three weeks after receiving daily threats from groups associated with the Fanmi Lavalas party in which they were informed that “if they didn’t close down the program they would be forced to.” The telephone threats were made after the weekly political news program Ranmase, during which members of the opposition criticized the government and expressed doubts about the legitimacy of the November 26 elections.[29] Carlos Sainristil, the station’s programming director, also reported that he and other journalists had received telephone threats over recent months.  Similarly, Amos Duboirant, the director of radio station Rotation FM in the town of Lascahobas, reported on December 28 that his station was receiving threats and intimidation after reporting sanitation problems in the local area.[30]

26.  Most of the attacks on journalists, as well as those on other media workers and radio stations, have not been investigated and the perpetrators remain unpunished. The Haitian authorities’ failure to pursue a serious, impartial, and effective investigation of these violent and intimidating attacks discourages media workers from reporting acts of violence and intimidation and fuels their mistrust.  The state has the obligation of upholding the human rights enshrined in the American Convention.  The state therefore incurs in international responsibility if it does not take the steps necessary to prevent violations of basic rights or, once such violations have been committed, to investigate them and prosecute and punish the guilty.[31]

27.  The Rapporteur underscores once again that the right of free expression, in addition to guaranteeing the right to practice journalism, also ensures society’s right to receive information.  States may incur in international responsibility when they fail to uphold this right.

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