(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Jean Gérard Dubreuil, state secretary for public security, RSF protested the detention of Liberus Renald and Claude François, journalists from the radio station Rotation FM, and the seizure of one of their recordings. The organisation asked that appropriate measures be taken against the authors of their detention and that […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Jean Gérard Dubreuil, state secretary for public security, RSF protested the detention of Liberus Renald and Claude François, journalists from the radio station Rotation FM, and the seizure of one of their recordings. The organisation asked that appropriate measures be taken against the authors of their detention and that the seized materials be returned to the journalists. “This action seriously undermines the right to protect sources, which is a cornerstone of press freedom,” said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. The organisation also recalled that in a text adopted in January 2000, Abid Hussain, the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, clearly established that imprisonment for press-related cases constitutes a “serious human rights violation.”
According to infomation collected by RSF, Renald and François, journalists with Rotation FM, in Belladères (north-east of the capital), were arrested during a police action in the radio station’s offices on 9 August 2001. The police officers seized a cassette that contained statements by former soldiers who allegedly attacked Haitian National Police (police nationale d’Haiti, PNH) installations on 28 July. After the journalists refused to hand over the recording, the police officers punched and kicked them and took them to the Belladères police station. Renald and François were released three hours later. The radio station was forced to interrupt its programmes. They are expected to be back on the air shortly.
