VTMBH Article: Body
On June 8, the Haitian government released journalists Darwin St. Julien of Haïti Progrès and Allan Deshommes of Radio Atlantique, 13 days after they were severely beaten and illegally arrested on May 27 while covering a demonstration in Guacimal, near St. Raphael, Haiti. They were never charged with any crime.
Upon release, the two were immediately rushed to specialized medical care, which was pointedly denied them during their two weeks in detention. St. Julien was struck with a machete in his right eye, from which he still cannot see and which he might lose. He also suffers from severe headaches. Deshommes, who received head injuries, is also being closely monitored.
The two journalists were beaten by armed men, led by local authorities and the watchmen of big landowning families -- the Zéphirs and Novellas -- who have denied peasants the right to farm on 365 carreaux of land which they have cultivated for generations. The peasants were demonstrating on May 27 to plant on the fallow land when they were attacked.
Nine people arrested during the demonstration remain in prison in the capital without charges, in flagrant violation of the Constitution which specifies that detainees be charged within 48 hours. Six are peasants, including two elderly men and two elderly women, members of the union Batay Ouvriyè (Workers Struggle). The other three prisoners are drivers who brought the unionists in pick up trucks to take part in the peasants demonstration. All were arrested on May 27 and transported by helicopter on May 29 to the National Penitentiary in Port-au-Prince. The two women are being held in Fort National.
The prisoners are enduring abominable conditions, lack clothes and shoes, and need medical attention. There is no medicine in the dispensary at the National Penitentiary. One peasant, Urbain Garçon, is in danger of losing his leg.
Two peasants from St. Michel dAttalaye -- Francilien Exilien and Ipharès Guerrier -- were killed by the big landowners goons on May 27 and buried on the spot. Authorities in St. Raphael, allied with the big landowners (known in Haiti as grandons), have issued warrants to arrest 19 other demonstrators, all of whom have fled the area or gone into hiding.
During a June 6 sit-in in Cap Haïtien protesting the arrests, radio journalist Delima Sévère said that his cousin, St. Raphaels mayor Adonija Sévère, told him not to visit the town because there was going to be more trouble. Other reliable sources claim that the grandons thugs -- many of whom are dissidents who left the Batay Ouvriyè union -- are being paid about $30 daily (a princely sum in Haiti) since the May 27 confrontation to remain mobilized against the return of the unionized peasants.
A massive wave of indignation from national and international journalists and human rights groups forced the Haitian government, controlled by the Lavalas Family party of President Jean Bertrand Aristide, to release the journalists.
On June 10, the Association of Haitian Journalists (AJH), which played an instrumental role in pressuring the government for the journalists release, gave a press conference to lay out its response to the arrests. We will take legal steps to make sure that these two journalists are compensated for the abuse they endured, for their illegal arrest, their illegal detention, the medical care that was denied, the poor treatment they received, as well as suing the people who beat them, said Guyler C. Delva, the AJH general secretary. We are also going to take measures with our lawyer to file suit against the authorities who were complicit in this illegal arrest.
We also affirm that the government is responsible for the fact that Darwin St. Julien risks losing his eye because he was not examined by a specialist, Delva continued. Once incarcerated in the National Penitentiary, they preferred to isolate him from his family instead of allowing him to be seen by a doctor.
In the press conference, the two journalists described how they were accosted by the grandons thugs. While we were interviewing some demonstrators, some individuals, headed by a watchman and some local authorities, attacked us, St. Julien recounted. When arrested later, the police fired their guns near the journalists ears, he said.
Deshommes described the terrible conditions in which they were held in the National Penitentiary. They treated us very badly, he said, as if we were assailants, or terrorists, all the names the authorities flung at us. They fed us like dogs, just throwing the food down and saying take it. The journalists slept on the prisons slimy fetid cement floors, since they could not obtain one of the rare cots fought over by prisoners.
In a June 10 press release, Haïti Progrès thanked the AJH and other rights groups which fought for the journalists release, but warned that the battle is not over. Haïti Progrès asks the press and its association to remain mobilized: the release of the journalists should not make us let our guard down, Maude Leblanc, Haïti Progrès co-director, wrote. There are other people arrested during the demonstration in Guacimal -- peasants, members of Batay Ouvriyè -- who are still in jail illegally. Others are being persecuted and have been forced into hiding while the group close to the power is burning down their houses. The press has the role to denounce arbitrary acts, and intolerance is gaining ground in the country more and more.
Meanwhile, in Brooklyn, NY, Haitians gathered on June 8 to listen to Paul Philome, a Haiti-based militant of Batay Ouvriyè, and Ben Dupuy, secretary general of the National Popular Party (PPN), condemn the Haitian governments support of rampaging big landowners in St. Raphael.
Upon release, the two were immediately rushed to specialized medical care, which was pointedly denied them during their two weeks in detention. St. Julien was struck with a machete in his right eye, from which he still cannot see and which he might lose. He also suffers from severe headaches. Deshommes, who received head injuries, is also being closely monitored.
The two journalists were beaten by armed men, led by local authorities and the watchmen of big landowning families -- the Zéphirs and Novellas -- who have denied peasants the right to farm on 365 carreaux of land which they have cultivated for generations. The peasants were demonstrating on May 27 to plant on the fallow land when they were attacked.
Nine people arrested during the demonstration remain in prison in the capital without charges, in flagrant violation of the Constitution which specifies that detainees be charged within 48 hours. Six are peasants, including two elderly men and two elderly women, members of the union Batay Ouvriyè (Workers Struggle). The other three prisoners are drivers who brought the unionists in pick up trucks to take part in the peasants demonstration. All were arrested on May 27 and transported by helicopter on May 29 to the National Penitentiary in Port-au-Prince. The two women are being held in Fort National.
The prisoners are enduring abominable conditions, lack clothes and shoes, and need medical attention. There is no medicine in the dispensary at the National Penitentiary. One peasant, Urbain Garçon, is in danger of losing his leg.
Two peasants from St. Michel dAttalaye -- Francilien Exilien and Ipharès Guerrier -- were killed by the big landowners goons on May 27 and buried on the spot. Authorities in St. Raphael, allied with the big landowners (known in Haiti as grandons), have issued warrants to arrest 19 other demonstrators, all of whom have fled the area or gone into hiding.
During a June 6 sit-in in Cap Haïtien protesting the arrests, radio journalist Delima Sévère said that his cousin, St. Raphaels mayor Adonija Sévère, told him not to visit the town because there was going to be more trouble. Other reliable sources claim that the grandons thugs -- many of whom are dissidents who left the Batay Ouvriyè union -- are being paid about $30 daily (a princely sum in Haiti) since the May 27 confrontation to remain mobilized against the return of the unionized peasants.
A massive wave of indignation from national and international journalists and human rights groups forced the Haitian government, controlled by the Lavalas Family party of President Jean Bertrand Aristide, to release the journalists.
On June 10, the Association of Haitian Journalists (AJH), which played an instrumental role in pressuring the government for the journalists release, gave a press conference to lay out its response to the arrests. We will take legal steps to make sure that these two journalists are compensated for the abuse they endured, for their illegal arrest, their illegal detention, the medical care that was denied, the poor treatment they received, as well as suing the people who beat them, said Guyler C. Delva, the AJH general secretary. We are also going to take measures with our lawyer to file suit against the authorities who were complicit in this illegal arrest.
We also affirm that the government is responsible for the fact that Darwin St. Julien risks losing his eye because he was not examined by a specialist, Delva continued. Once incarcerated in the National Penitentiary, they preferred to isolate him from his family instead of allowing him to be seen by a doctor.
In the press conference, the two journalists described how they were accosted by the grandons thugs. While we were interviewing some demonstrators, some individuals, headed by a watchman and some local authorities, attacked us, St. Julien recounted. When arrested later, the police fired their guns near the journalists ears, he said.
Deshommes described the terrible conditions in which they were held in the National Penitentiary. They treated us very badly, he said, as if we were assailants, or terrorists, all the names the authorities flung at us. They fed us like dogs, just throwing the food down and saying take it. The journalists slept on the prisons slimy fetid cement floors, since they could not obtain one of the rare cots fought over by prisoners.
In a June 10 press release, Haïti Progrès thanked the AJH and other rights groups which fought for the journalists release, but warned that the battle is not over. Haïti Progrès asks the press and its association to remain mobilized: the release of the journalists should not make us let our guard down, Maude Leblanc, Haïti Progrès co-director, wrote. There are other people arrested during the demonstration in Guacimal -- peasants, members of Batay Ouvriyè -- who are still in jail illegally. Others are being persecuted and have been forced into hiding while the group close to the power is burning down their houses. The press has the role to denounce arbitrary acts, and intolerance is gaining ground in the country more and more.
Meanwhile, in Brooklyn, NY, Haitians gathered on June 8 to listen to Paul Philome, a Haiti-based militant of Batay Ouvriyè, and Ben Dupuy, secretary general of the National Popular Party (PPN), condemn the Haitian governments support of rampaging big landowners in St. Raphael.