(RSF/IFEX) – The following is a 2 December 2002 RSF press release: 3 December 2001 – 3 December 2002 Murder of journalist Brignol Lindor One year of impunity One year after the killing of Brignol Lindor, a journalist with the Echo 2000 radio station in Petit-Goâve, Reporters Without Borders, the Damocles Network and the Haitian […]
(RSF/IFEX) – The following is a 2 December 2002 RSF press release:
3 December 2001 – 3 December 2002
Murder of journalist Brignol Lindor
One year of impunity
One year after the killing of Brignol Lindor, a journalist with the Echo 2000 radio station in Petit-Goâve, Reporters Without Borders, the Damocles Network and the Haitian Journalists’ Association (AJH) deplore the fact that those responsible have not yet been punished.
The three organisations reiterate their determination to obtain justice for Lindor, who was beaten to death on 3 December last year by supporters of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s Fanmi Lavalas party.
The AJH and Pastor Denis Laguerre (representing the Lindor family), supported by Haiti’s Ecumenical Centre for Human Rights, formally protested on 1 and 3 October before the Port-au-Prince Appeals Court against the murder enquiry being officially closed, thus excluding any prosecution of the instigator of the attack.
Reporters Without Borders and the Damocles Network may file an appeal before the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR).
“A year after Lindor’s death, impunity still reigns,” said Reporters Without Border secretary-general Robert Ménard and AJH secretary-general Guyler C. Delva. “It has been turned into a policy aimed at fostering an atmosphere of terror and silencing the media.” The two organisations said seven journalists were currently in hiding in Gonaives after being threatened by Amiot Métayer, a fugitive from justice protected by Aristide’s party who is terrorising the local population and the press.”
Fritzner Duclair, the judge investigating Lindor’s death, officially closed his enquiry on 16 September. A fact-finding mission by Reporters Without Borders and the Damocles Network published earlier that month noted that the chief instigator of the murder, Petit-Goâve’s deputy mayor Dumay Bony, had not been troubled or charged.
At a press conference on 30 November last year, Bony had called for “zero tolerance” to be applied to Lindor, who he called a “terrorist.” His words were taken by everyone except Haitian legal officials as an appeal to kill the journalist. Many in Haiti consider the term “zero tolerance”, first used by President Aristide a few months earlier to urge police to deal firmly with criminals, as implicit support for lynching people.
The Haitian authorities told the Organisation of American States (OAS) in a report on 4 November this year that 10 people had been charged in the case, two of whom were arrested. But Reporters Without Borders found that these two individuals, Maxi Zéphyr and Fritzler Doudoute, are in fact being held for other reasons. Prison officials in Port-au-Prince, where Zéphyr is being held, have also refused to allow him to be questioned in the Lindor murder case for several months.
To mark the first anniversary of Lindor’s death, Reporters Without Borders and the AJH are broadcasting a message from his family on Haitian radio stations, demanding justice. The text is as follows:
“[voice of Robert Ménard]: 3 December 2001 to 3 December 2002
[voice of Moréno Lindor]: My name is Moréno Lindor. I’m the brother of journalist Brignol Lindor. I was at home on the day I heard he had been hacked to death. I feared it was the end for my family. I was wrong. We were threatened and had to flee the country. A year later, the killers can still count on the inertia of the authorities. The hardest thing is the injustice of the situation, that nobody has been punished. My brother was killed because he allowed everyone to speak on the radio. Haitians must be given their say and Brignol must be given justice.
[Ménard]: In solidarity with the Haitian media, Reporters Without Borders and the AJH add their voices to those who demand justice, justice for Brignol Lindor.”
Recommendations :
The Haitian Journalists’ Association, Reporters Without Borders and the Damocles Network demand :
– That the Port-au-Prince Appeals Court cancel Judge Duclair’s closure of the enquiry and order that the case be reopened;
– That the next judge in charge of the case bring charges against Dumay Bony for “incitement to murder”;
– That the Port-au-Prince prison authorities allow Maxi Zéphyr to be questioned about his suspected involvement in Lindor’s killing.
The two organisations also reiterate their appeal to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to specifically condemn public lynchings and take action to end the impunity enjoyed by the killers and attackers of journalists.
