(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has welcomed an appeals court ruling on the case of murdered journalist Jean Dominique that will allow the stalled proceedings to resume after being blocked in court for nearly 11 months. “The authorities have kept their promise,” said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. In June, an RSF delegation met with President Boniface Alexandre, […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has welcomed an appeals court ruling on the case of murdered journalist Jean Dominique that will allow the stalled proceedings to resume after being blocked in court for nearly 11 months.
“The authorities have kept their promise,” said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. In June, an RSF delegation met with President Boniface Alexandre, Prime Minister Gérard Latortue and Justice Minister Bernard Gousse to discuss the Dominique case and other cases. During the meeting, RSF representatives were assured that the appeals court would rule on the cases of murdered journalists Dominique and Brignol Lindor before the end of the judicial year, at the end of July.
“This decision confirms that, in connection with these cases, the attitude of the new authorities is totally different from that of the former government. But it still does not mean an end to impunity,” said Ménard. “A new examining magistrate needs to be appointed and be given the means to ensure those who carried out and ordered the killings are punished,” he said.
Contacted by RSF, the justice minister said that the Lindor case was “proceeding well” and that the appeals court would issue a ruling by the end of July. He added that he had received a preliminary report on the investigation into the 7 March death of Spanish reporter Ricardo Ortega and that it would be sent to the Spanish authorities shortly.
In a report published on 6 July, RSF stressed that the handling of the Dominique and Lindor murder cases was “crucial to making journalists feel secure again. Solving these crimes would show that a return to the rule of law is under way for the whole society as well as for journalists, who have no defence against armed groups. The authorities will have kept all their promises when the appeals court rules on the Lindor case and provides information on the investigation into the death of Spanish reporter Ricardo Ortega.”
On 1 July, the appeals court rejected an appeal by three suspects in the Dominique murder, who have all been on the run since the fall of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. An examining magistrate will now have to be named by the head of the lower court, Jean-Joseph Lebrun.
Dominique, who was the director of Radio Haïti Inter, was shot dead on 3 April 2000 along with the station’s security guard, Jean-Claude Louissaint. After four years during which every obstacle was placed in the way of the investigation, it finally concluded on 21 March 2003. Six people, who were already in custody, were charged with carrying out the murder but no one was charged with having ordered it.
Lindor, who hosted a programme on Radio Echo 2000, a small radio station in Petit-Goave (70 km south-east of the capital, Port-au-Prince), died from a hail of stones and machete blows on 3 December 2001 at the hands of members of Domi Nan Bwa, an organisation close to the ruling Fanmi Lavalas party. The file has been with the appeals court since March 2003.
Ortega, a corespondent for Antena 3, was fatally wounded while covering a demonstration on 7 March 2004 against then president Aristide. He died shortly after his arrival in hospital. On 8 June, Justice Minister Gousse told RSF that he had called for a first report on the progress of the investigation into the shooting. He promised to send it to the Spanish representatives in Port-au-Prince as soon as he received it.
For more information, see the RSF report “Press freedom returns: a gain to be nurtured”, published on 6 July on http://www.rsf.org.
