Women Recount Gang Rape, Abuse at Hearing Against Haitian Death Squad Leader Emmanuel Constant

Here in the United States, two women have testified at an evidentiary hearing in a case against a former Haitian death squad leader living in New York City.

The suit against Emmanuel "Toto" Constant was launched in December 2004 by a group of women who suffered gang rape and other abuses from Constant's forces. Constant led the paramilitary group the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti, or FRAPH, which killed thousands of supporters of former Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide.

Constant has been allowed to live freely in the US after threatening to reveal the full extent of his ties to the CIA. The US government has ignored several requests for his extradition. Constant was arrested in a separate case last month -- not for human rights abuses but for committing mortgage fraud.

* Moira Feeney, the lead lawyer in the civil case against Constant. She is also a staff attorney with the Center for Justice and Accountability.

LISTEN ONLINE:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/31/144239