HAITI ACTION ALERT: Demand the Release of Yvon Neptune

Forwarded from Haiti Action Committee:

From: haitiaction [at] yahoo.com

Subject: HAITI ACTION ALERT: Demand the Release of Yvon Neptune

Date: May 3, 2005 6:44:14 PM PDT

May 3, 2005

Political prisoner Yvon Neptune, Haiti's last
constitutional Prime Minister,
lies on the verge of death from a hunger strike,
initiated because the de facto Haitian coup government
has jailed him for 10 months without formal charges,
in violation of Haiti's constitution. The National
Coalition for Haitian Rights (NCHR), a widely
discredited, USAID funded anti-Aristide group, has
accused Neptune of participation in a massacre in the
city of St. Marc in February 2004, but the illegal
coup government has never offered any proof the
massacre actually took place, and U.N. independent
expert on human rights Louis Joinet recently dismissed
accounts of the massacre.


Neptune has vowed to continue his hunger strike until
he is either charged or released. The illegal
"interim" regime of Gerard Latortue could easily meet
this demand, but refuses. They should therefore
concede they have no real case against Neptune and
release him from prison.

Though recent news reports indicate the Latortue
government may fly Neptune out of the country, Neptune has long
insisted he has
no desire to leave Haiti. He wants to either face an honest legal
process
or be released.

On May 1, Marguerite Laurent of the Haitian Lawyers'
Leadership Network, who visited Neptune in March 2005, and spoke with
his
family over the weekend, wrote, "Mr. Neptune's family stresses that
Yvon
Neptune would never go into exile; that he has repeatedly maintained
this
position: That he is an innocent man, wrongfully accused of a massacre
that
the UN, the international press and reputable human
rights organizations say did not happen [...] he will
not leave prison unless a judge has signed his
liberation order and acknowledged his innocence of all
crimes."

Please contact Kofi Annan and UN Human Rights
Representative in Haiti Mahamane Cisse-Guoro and tell them that they
must
direct the coup government to finally release Neptune.



Hon. Kofi Annan, Secretary-General
United Nations
United Nations Headquarters
First Avenue at 46th Street
New York, NY 10017
212-963-5012
inquiries [at] un.org
Fax No. (212) 963-4879

Mahamane Cisse-Guoro , UN Human Rights Office in Haiti
UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)
<mcissegouro [at] undp.org>
cisse-gouro [at] un.org
PHONE: 011.509.244.9650.9660
FAX: 011.509.244.9366/67


background, from May 2 Institute for Justice and
Democracy in Haiti
(ijdh.org) action alert

Yvon Neptune Ill, But Refuses to Leave Haiti Without
Justice
Human Rights Group Denounces Unconstitutional Plan to
Send an Unconscious Neptune Into Exile


Political prisoner Yvon Neptune, seriously ill and on
day 16 of a hunger strike, remains incarcerated in Haiti despite
persistent reports in the Haitian and international press that he has
been flown
out of the country. Mr. Neptune, Haiti's last constitutional Prime
Minister, has insisted for months that he will not leave the prison
until the
Interim Haitian Government either tries him for the allegations
against him or drops the charges. The interim government is seeking to
defuse
criticism of its political prisoner policies by forcing Mr. Neptune to
leave the country without going to court. The Group for the Defense of
the Rights of Political Prisoners (GDP), a Haitian human rights
organization, reports that the government plans to wait until Mr.
Neptune loses
consciousness, then transport him out of the country.

On Saturday, April 30 and Sunday, May 1, several media
outlets, including the Associated Press, ABC News and Radio Kiskeya in
Haiti reported that Mr. Neptune was about to leave or had already left.
Those
reports, based on sources within the Haitian government and a foreign
embassy, were not true. As of 2 PM Monday, May 2 (Haiti time), Mr.
Neptune
remains in prison.

Yvon Neptune has been in prison since June 2004, when
he turned himself into police after hearing a radio announcement of a
warrant
for his arrest. He has never been brought before the judge in his
case,
despite a constitutional requirement of a hearing within 48
hours. Mr. Neptune has received several death threats, and at least
three
assassination plots have been reported against him.

Human rights groups, including the GDP and Amnesty
International, world leaders like UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and
religious leaders like Bishop Thomas Gumbleton and Rev. Gerard
Jean-Juste
have called for Mr. Neptune's release or trial. On April 19, a team of
lawyers from the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux, the Institute for
Justice
& Democracy in Haiti and the Hastings Human Rights Project for Haiti
filed
a complaint before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on
Neptune's
behalf (see
http://www.ijdh.org/articles/article_recent_news_april-4-19-05.htm).

For months, Mr. Neptune has insisted that he will not
leave until the government brings his case to trial or admits that the
charges were without foundation. In February, he even voluntarily
returned
to the prison after he was removed at gunpoint during a prison break.
Over the weekend, his family members reiterated that he refuses to
leave
Haiti without seeing justice done.

Haiti's interim government attempted to deflect the
growing international pressure for Neptune's release by offering to fly
him
to the Dominican Republic over the weekend for treatment. Neptune,
refused, once again insisting on justice, not an easy escape for either
himself or the interim government.

According to Ronald Saint-Jean, the Secretary-General
of the Group for the Defense of the Rights of Political Prisoners
(GDP),
government sources indicate that the authorities plan to wait until Mr.
Neptune loses consciousness, then transport him out of the country.
Mr. Saint-Jean, and GPD's lawyer, Mario Joseph of the Bureau des
Avocats
Internationaux, "energetically protest against this cynical and
criminal measure." They note the irony that the government can quickly
arrange
transport to a hospital in the Dominican Republic, but could not
transport Mr. Neptune before a judge in over 10 months.

Saint-Jean and Joseph note that Neptune's forced exile
would be yet another violation of his constitutional rights, as Article
41
states clearly that "no Haitian National can be deported or forced to
leave the national territory for any reason whatsoever."

For more information:

Groupe de Defense des Droits Des Prisonniers
Politiques, Ronald Saint-Jean,
Secretary-General: 509-244-1254, 509-588-7550 (Haiti)

Bureau des Avocats Internationaux, Mario Joseph,
Managing Lawyer:
509-554-4284, 509-221-8686 (Haiti)

Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, Brian
Concannon Jr., Director:
541-432-0597 (USA), BrianHaiti [at] aol.com, http://www.ijdh.org
(background information on Yvon Neptune's case, including the complaint
filed
before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network, Marguerite Laurent
(spoke with Neptune family members over the weekend),
http://www.margueritelaurent.com