(RSF/IFEX) – On 17 February 2003, RSF expressed its concern over an attack by alleged government supporters who tried to set fire to the house of Radio Métropole political affairs journalist Jean-Numa Goudou on 15 February. “In a country where impunity is the rule for government followers who threaten, attack or kill journalists, we ask […]
(RSF/IFEX) – On 17 February 2003, RSF expressed its concern over an attack by alleged government supporters who tried to set fire to the house of Radio Métropole political affairs journalist Jean-Numa Goudou on 15 February.
“In a country where impunity is the rule for government followers who threaten, attack or kill journalists, we ask you to condemn once and for all these attacks and acts of intimidation,” RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard said in a letter to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Ménard called on the president to put an end to impunity by ordering thorough investigations of attacks and threats against journalists and finding and punishing those responsible.
A group of unidentified people, allegedly Aristide supporters, went to Goudou’s house in Carrefour, a southwestern suburb of Port-au-Prince, on 14 February and asked to see him. He was not home at the time. The group then returned in the middle of the night with various weapons and tried to set fire to the journalist’s house by burning a vehicle parked in the garage. Neighbours managed to put the fire out.
Goudou, who also works with the Haiti Press Network, told RSF that the attackers wanted to kill him. He said he had been receiving threats for some time, including one on the day the group first came to his house. Sensing that his life was in danger, he left his home the day before the attack and went into hiding.
