(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has expressed its great concern over the 24-hour suspension of news broadcasts by Radio Métropole on 18 February 2003, in protest over attacks and threats against the radio station’s journalists. “The station’s move is a direct and serious consequence of press freedom violations,” said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. “We deplore the attacks […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has expressed its great concern over the 24-hour suspension of news broadcasts by Radio Métropole on 18 February 2003, in protest over attacks and threats against the radio station’s journalists.
“The station’s move is a direct and serious consequence of press freedom violations,” said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. “We deplore the attacks on the station’s journalists and the threats against them. The authorities must halt the criminal activities of the armed gangs they use to persecute journalists, and must also dismantle the gangs. The government must urgently give solid assurances regarding the safety of journalists, arrest those responsible for the attacks and threats – which have become a habit for the head of the Cannibal Army, Amiot Métayer – and allow Haitians to be freely informed,” Ménard added.
The decision by Radio Métropole management and staff to stop airing news bulletins was the first of its kind by the station. Until now, Radio Métropole had preferred not to inform listeners of attacks and threats against the station, but recent incidents spurred the staff to protest publicly.
On the night of 16 February, thugs fired gunshots, shouted insults and threw bottles at the house of Radio Métropole journalist Nancy Roc’s mother, in the Delmas suburb of Port-au-Prince, not far from the radio station. The night security guard fired back to chase them away. Roc has since decided to hire an additional security guard for the daytime hours. She told RSF that thugs had previously fired gunshots at the house and fled in a vehicle in December 2002.
In addition, a group of people, apparently Aristide supporters, went to reporter Jean-Numa Goudou’s house in Carrefour, a southwestern suburb of Port-au-Prince, on 14 February. They asked to see the journalist, but he was not present at the time. They returned in the middle of the night with assorted weapons and tried to set fire to the house by burning a car parked in the garage. Neighbours managed to put the fire out.
Roc and Goudou had both covered the so-called “Weekend of Hope” in the northern city of Cap-Haïtien on 7 and 8 February. Roc had delivered a speech about Haitian media and democracy.
In November, Radio Métropole editor-in-chief Louis Marie Achille’s house was attacked by armed men, who also shot up his vehicle.
The station’s news editor, François Rotchild Jr, told RSF that threats against the station and efforts to intimidate its journalists had clearly started up again. He said Cannibal Army leader Métayer had threatened him explicitly on a Radio Guinen programme. Métayer is close to the ruling Fanmi Lavalas party.
Rotchild recently interviewed the justice minister and asked him pointed questions about Métayer, who escaped from prison in August and has since walked the streets freely without being rearrested. The journalist said he took Métayer’s threats very seriously in light of his violent past.
