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Disgraceful Suspension of Medical Evacuations Captures US Indifference to Magnitude of Haitian Suffering
Listen/watch the interview on Democracy Now!’s website Bill Quigley on Democracy Now! The US military has resumed medical evacuation flights of critically injured Haitian earthquake victims to Florida after suspending the flights for five days. The flights were halted in a cost dispute between Florida and the federal government. Just back from Haiti, Bill Quigley […]
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Haiti: Don’t Honor Tainted Election
Brian Concannon and Ira Kurzban, Miami Herald Late last month, Haiti’s government took the undemocratic and dangerous step of excluding 15 political parties, including Haiti’s most popular party, Fanmi Lavalas, from parliamentary elections scheduled for February and March 2010. The decision threatens not only Haiti’s democracy and stability, but billions in foreign investments financed by […]
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IADL Warns Against “Electoral Charade” in Haiti
Kim Ives, Haiti Liberte This past week saw outcry from legal professionals around the globe against the election fiasco unfolding in Haiti after the Provisional Electoral Council’s exclusion of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s Lavalas Family party (FL) and 13 others from parliamentary elections set for Feb. 28 and Mar. 3, 2010. On Dec. 11, the […]
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$19 Million Judgment Upheld Against Former Haitian CIA Agent and Death Squad Leader
Toto Constant Liable for Rape, Other Torture, Attempted Killing (NEW YORK, December 1, 2009). Today, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a $19 million judgment against Emmanuel “Toto” Constant, the former leader of Haiti’s notorious death squad known as FRAPH, concluding “there is no basis on which to challenge the judgment of the district […]
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Haitian Death Squad Leader Emmanuel Constant Sentenced in New York
Brian Concannon, Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti Haitian death squad leader Emmanuel Toto Constant was sentenced today in Kings County Supreme Court in New York, by Judge Abraham Gerges, on mortgage fraud charges. According to the Sentencing Memorandum, the full sentence should be between 12 and 37 years. It is not yet clear […]
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National Lawyers Guild Applauds Inter-American Court Decision Upholding the Human Rights of Former Haitian Prime Minister Yvon Neptune
Urges Rapid Compliance With Judgment The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) welcomes the recent decision from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) finding that the State of Haiti has violated 11 provisions of the American Convention on Human Rights by illegally imprisoning former Haitian Prime Minister Yvon Neptune for two years and by continuing to […]
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National Lawyers Guild Congratulates Raboteau Massacre Victims on Historic Victory
The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) congratulates the victims of the Raboteau Massacre on their recent victory after a 14-year struggle in the courts of Haiti and the United States. On May 16, the victims received over $400,000 in court-awarded compensation. NLG President Marjorie Cohn noted that “the Raboteau victims have provided all of us a […]
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Disturbing the Peace, in Haiti and New Orleans
Brian Concannon Gerard Jean-Juste, a Catholic priest from Haiti, just does not know when to shut up. In the 1970’s he saw his people starved and persecuted while Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier lived in opulence, so he organized for change. The Duvalier regime responded as dictatorships do, and kicked him out of the country. When […]
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Observations from the hearing of Father Gerard Jean-Juste
by Ollie Ruth Jefferson, Attorney at Law PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI – I arrived at the Palace of Justice with Father Gerard Jean-Juste’s lead attorney, Mario Joseph, and three other observers, approximately 15 minutes prior to the hearing. The UN presence was palpable, evident by their blue helmets, with possibly 20 stationed outside the front […]
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Baseless Arrests Continue in Haiti
Brian Concannon Rev. Gérard Jean-Juste’s struggles with Haiti’s criminal justice system have been a good gauge of the system’s health for the last three years. The latest episode, last month, showed that rule of law is alive in Haiti — if not exactly kicking. “Fr. Gerry,” a Catholic priest well-known as an advocate for South […]
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