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DIGITAL FREEDOM NETWORK: Human rights and technology news
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Stonewalled inquiry
by John DeSio, Digital Freedom Network
URL: dfn.org/focus/haiti/toussaint-update.htm
(December 7, 2001) Justice remains unserved in Haiti, as the investigation of the
murder of the country's most popular journalist has stalled with no action seemingly
in sight.
Jean Leopold Dominique, a wildly popular radio journalist in Haiti, was gunned down in
front of his radio station on April 3, 2000, in what can only be described as a
planned assassination. Jean-Claude Louissaint, who was with Dominique at the time, was
also killed.
Several have been named as suspects in the case, but the one most prominent is Dany
Toussaint, a young senator with strong ties to Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the country's
president. And although many consider Toussaint to be the main suspect, parliamentary
immunity may prevent him from ever being tried in the matter.
Toussaint had long tried to take over Dominique's station, Radio Haiti Inter, for some
years, due to the broadcast journalist's harsh criticisms of the senator.
"If Dany Toussaint tries anything else against me or the radio and if I am still
alive, I will close the place down after I have denounced these maneuvers one more
time and I will go in exile once more with my wife and children," said Dominique in a
radio address on October 19, 1999, threatening to once again leave his career in
journalism to protect his family.
The address spoke out against attempts by the senator to force Dominique to speak out
against public officials aligned against Toussaint's party.
Dominique went into exile two previous times following threats made against him and
his radio station, but would not have a chance for a third such move. Dominique was
killed in front of his radio station shortly before the presidential election.
While the Haitian government declared a national day of mourning and bestowed the
government's highest honor on the broadcaster, the government has done little else to
help solve the murders. The task of bringing Dominique's and Louissaint's murderer to
justice has fallen into the hands of a judge whose work on the case has made him the
target of political pressure.
"All I want to do is apply the law," said Judge Claudy Gassant in an interview this
past summer with the Miami Herald. "What the others want, I don't know." The "others"
are Haiti's powerful elite, who do not want this case to be solved.
When the case first fell on Gassant's desk, he insists that he was not fearful for his
and his family's safety. But since that time, he has been threatened by anonymous
callers to drop the case, and has even moved his wife and three-year-old son to the
U.S. state of Florida for their protection.
The basis for the fear and threats is the fact that many powerful people in Haiti's
government, specifically Toussaint, will be implicated in the investigation.
Gassant has also stated that every branch of the government, including his boss, the
chief justice of Haiti, will not provide him with the tools needed for the job, and
block his investigation at every turn.
"The executive is against me, the legislative is against me, and the judiciary, too,"
said Gassant. "I'm so afraid I don't know of whom to be afraid."
For their part, Haiti's justice department has denied any roadblock in the case,
stating that they have very little to work with, but have provided Gassant with
certain amenities, such as bodyguards and a laptop computer, to aid his work in the
case.
Regardless of any decision that Gassant may make, his main suspect, Toussaint, may
never have to face any trial in the matter, due to his protection under parliamentary
immunity.
Toussaint, at first, cooperated with Gassant and submitted to questioning in the
matter, but has refused to do so after the judge directly accused him of the crimes.
After the judge's charges, Toussaint alleged the judge was using the case for
political purposes and declaring his innocence.
The senator's colleagues in Parliament have thus far denied any motion to remove
Toussaint's parliamentary immunity, but may reconsider their stance, due to the
popular support for the move.
And while many have called for Toussaint to submit to an investigation, one voice has
been louder than all the rest - Dominique's own wife.
"If he's innocent as he says he is, he should go to a court of law and defend
himself," said Michelle Montas-Dominique to the Miami Herald, the wife of the slain
journalist who took over as director of Radio Haiti Inter.
Montas-Dominique, who has been accused by her political foes of engineering her
husband's death, has demanded that Toussaint lose his immunity and be forced to end
his stonewalling tactics, "What he's trying to do is stop the whole thing."
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