Reuters summary in NYT, pro-Neptune Baltimore Sun editorial

[Jens Iverson]

Hello,

Please find below an excerpt from the NYT world briefings and the Baltimore
Sun editorial page. Reportedly, Neptune's closed hearing was in western St.
Marc, and Patrick Elie was present. The editorial succinctly contrasts
Neptune's treatment with the treatment of convicted paramilitary leaders.

Regards,

Jens Iverson



http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/27/international/27briefs.html

World Briefings

Published: May 27, 2005

AMERICAS

HAITI: EX-PREMIER GOES BEFORE COURT Yvon Neptune, the prime minister under
former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, finally appeared before a judge
over accusations that he masterminded the killings of 25 political opponents
in February 2004, during the revolt against Mr. Aristide. The closed hearing
in western St. Marc, where the attack took place, came a month after he
started a hunger strike to protest his 11-month imprisonment without formal
charges, and he was carried to the court on a stretcher. His detention has
brought expressions of concern from international human rights organizations
and the United Nations. A human rights activist who attended the court
hearing, Patrick Elie, said Mr. Neptune rejected the accusations. (Reuters)




http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/bal-ed.haiti29may29,1,2936599.story
?coll=bal-opinion-headlines

Hungering for justice





May 29, 2005

MOST AMERICANS HAVE never heard of Yvon Neptune, the jailed former prime
minister of Haiti who has been on a hunger strike since April 17, but his
decision to starve himself speaks volumes about the failure of U.S. policy
in Haiti. And it underscores the hypocrisy of the Bush administration's
policy of engaged diplomacy in defense of human rights and democracy around
the world.

Mr. Neptune has been held without trial in a Haitian prison since June
2004. He is refusing food to protest his detention for allegedly ordering
the massacre of 50 opponents of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide,
whose government Mr. Neptune served. The accusations are widely believed to
be politically motivated. Mr. Neptune insists he is innocent, and the
reluctance of the U.S.-backed interim Haitian government to try him in court
and provide evidence of his involvement in the murders supports his claim.
Unlike other former government officials who fled the country after Mr.
Aristide's March 2004 ouster, Mr. Neptune turned himself in last year when a
warrant was issued for his arrest. Three months ago, when gunmen stormed the
national penitentiary where he was being held, 500 inmates, including Mr.
Neptune, were freed in the ensuing chaos. He promptly turned himself in to
authorities again.

The Haitian government has offered to let Mr. Neptune leave the country,
but he refuses to go unless the allegations against him are officially
withdrawn or he is given his day in court. His imprisonment, along with that
of about 1,000 others held without trial or formal charges, many of them
Aristide supporters, is emblematic of a corrupt and politicized justice
system. This selective adherence to judicial processes may explain the
recent decision by the Haitian Supreme Court to overturn the convictions of
38 army and paramilitary leaders in the 1994 killings of more than a dozen
Aristide supporters. Among the convictions overturned where those of
Louis-Jodel Chamblain, a death squad leader who helped lead the rebellion
that toppled Mr. Aristide.

Haiti appears no closer to political reconciliation today than in the early
days after Mr. Aristide's fall, when the streets were literally on fire.
Deadly clashes between disparate political factions remain as predictable as
the hot weather. More than 500 people have been killed in the past eight
months. Chances for successful presidential and parliamentary elections
scheduled for the fall are tenuous. And on Thursday, the U.S. State
Department ordered nonessential embassy personnel out of the country after
gunmen fired several shots at an embassy van traveling in the Haitian
capital. U.S. citizens were also urged to leave because of security risks.

If the Bush administration is serious about supporting democracy around the
world, where better than in Haiti, which is in our geographic back yard?
It's not just Mr. Neptune's health that is in peril, it's also Haiti's.

Copyright © 2005, The Baltimore Sun