(RSF/IFEX) – RSF was horrified to learn that freelance photographer Jean-Rémy Badio was murdered in the southern Port-au-Prince district of Martissant on the afternoon of 19 January 2007. He was reportedly shot dead in his home by members of a gang he had photographed a few days before. “Badio’s tragic death is a harsh blow […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF was horrified to learn that freelance photographer Jean-Rémy Badio was murdered in the southern Port-au-Prince district of Martissant on the afternoon of 19 January 2007. He was reportedly shot dead in his home by members of a gang he had photographed a few days before.
“Badio’s tragic death is a harsh blow for the Haitian media, for whom conditions seemed to have improved during the past year,” RSF said. “This murder has unfortunately served as a reminder that gang law continues to prevail in Haiti, especially in Port-au-Prince. Those responsible must be quickly found and brought to justice, otherwise such murders will recur and will continue to go unpunished. The government must continue to combat the armed gangs.”
According to the organisation SOS Journalistes, of which Badio was a member, he was killed because he had photographed members of local gangs. His family said he had received threats from gang members prior to his death.
Two armed gangs – Lame Ti Manchèt (Little Machete Army) and Baz Gran Ravin (Big Ravine Base) – have been fighting for the control of Martissant for the past two years, to the point that it has become as dangerous as Port-au-Prince’s most notorious slum, Cité Soleil. It was in Martissant that photographer François Louis of the “Le Nouvelliste” daily newspaper was roughed up by peacekeepers of the UN Mission for the Stabilisation of Haiti (MINUSTAH) during a demonstration that turned into a riot in November 2006 (see IFEX alerts of 10 and 7 November 2006).
On the eve of Badio’s murder, the Haitian National Police (police nationale d’Haïti, PNH) reported that, with MINUSTAH’s help, it arrested 315 people, including 47 gang members, during the first two weeks of January. Twelve of the gang members have already been charged with illegal possession of a firearm, the Haiti Press Network reported.
