MAYETTE RELEASE STOKES CONTROVERSY/DISORDER IN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PORT AU PRINCE 000848 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/EX AND WHA/CAR S/CRS SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CAR INR/IAA (BEN-YEHUDA) WHA/EX PLEASE PASS USOAS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KJUS PHUM HA SUBJECT: MAYETTE RELEASE STOKES CONTROVERSY/DISORDER IN GONAIVES PORT AU PR 00000848 001.2 OF 003 ¶1. (U) Summary. Tension stemming from the release of one of the accused in the La Scierie massacre culminated on May 7 in Gonaives when demonstrators disrupted the funeral of a local judge and threw stones at the government delegation led by Prime Minister Alexis. MINUSTAH and Haitian police forces quickly intervened to restore order. Judge Ramon Guillaume on April 26 ordered the release of defendant Amanus Mayette after three years in detention pending trial for his alleged participation in the massacre of Aristide-regime opponents in the La Scierie neighborhood of St. Marc in February 2004. Mayette's release has renewed the often violent tensions between rival political gangs in the St. Marc/Gonaives area. Anti- Fanmi Lavalas (FL) partisans now claim that the deceased judge from Gonaives, who just prior to his death on April 24 had ruled on an appeal in the La Scierie case, was the victim of a plot led by the justice minister to absolve Mayette. Commentators have overwhelmingly criticized the decision to release Mayette, a decidedly unsympathetic figure, and spun theories on the link between the judge's death and Mayette's release, but have ignored the complete failure of the Haitian justice system to bring the La Scierie case to a conclusion. End Summary. Mayette Released -------------- ¶2. (U) Ramon Guillaume, chief judge of the civil tribunal in Gonaives, on April 26 ruled in favor of a habeas corpus motion for two of the three defendants remaining in detention in the La Scierie case. The judge ordered the release of Amanus Mayette, a former FL deputy for St. Marc and the most well-known of the remaining prisoners and Hora Jean Baptiste. La Scierie victims' advocates claim Mayette led pro-FL gangs through the neighborhood targeting rebel sympathizers. The judge ruled against the release of Ronald Dauphin ("Black Ronald"),who according to MINUSTAH sources is a notorious criminal from St. Marc. Haitian authorities detained only six of the 30 defendants in the La Scierie case since first filing charges in March, 2004. Former Interior Minister Jocelerme Privert successfully petitioned for his release in ;January 2006, and a judge released former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune in July 2006 for medical reasons. Another defendant died of tuberculosis in prison in March. MINUSTAH human rights officials report that Mayette and Jean Baptiste were in very poor health as a result of their prolonged detention. Death of a Judge -------------- ¶3. (U) Chief judge for the court of appeals Hughes St. Pierre died in Port-au-Prince on April 24 in a traffic accident. According to media reports immediately following the accident, St. Pierre, 75 years-old, was getting off a a "tap tap" (a small truck converted for public transport) on the busy Delmas thoroughfare when another vehicle struck him. St. Pierre on April 13 had issued a ruling on a motion to dismiss the charges brought by several La Scierie defendants, declining to make a final decision and asking the examining magistrate in the case to re-examine several witnesses. The ruling came 18 months after the Haitian legal deadline for appellate court rulings and the examining magistrate had already discounted the testimony of 21 of the 37 witnesses cited by Judge St. Pierre, six of whom have since died. Conspiracy, Outrage, Demonstrations -------------- ¶4. (U) Mayette's release, coming only two days after St. Pierre's death, unleashed a torrent of criticism and conspiracy theories from FL opponents. Many claim that St. Pierre's death was a result of a conspiracy led by Justice Minister Rene Magloire on behalf of the government to ensure that the La Scierie defendants woul go free and not reveal the involvement of Presient Preval and other officials in crimes committd under Aristide. According to St. Pierre's famly members, the justice minister summond St. Pierre to Port-au-Pince to account for his decision in the La Scierie appeal. Sympathetic media claimed days after St. Pierre's death that witnesses had come forward to say that St. Pierre had been pushed in front of the other vehicle. Others claimed that St. Pierre had arrived at the hospital alive, but was denied medical treatment. Justice Minister Magloire publicly denied having called St. Pierre to Port-au-Prince, but media sources reported that two other judges from Gonaives confirmed that they had also been summoned by the justice minister. Senator Youri Latortue of the Artibonite has called for a special commission of inquiry in the Senate to summon the minister, St. Pierre's family members, and the supposed witnesses to St. Pierre's death. Latortue has also called for the minister's resignation if witnesses confirm that he lied about summoning St. Pierre. ¶5. (U) Disquiet surrounding the events related to Mayette's release and St. Pierre's death came to a head during St. Pierre's funeral at the Gonaives cathedral on May 7. Prime Minister Alexis led a government delegation including the justice, agriculture, and commerce ministers. Protesters outside the cathedral interrupted the service with catcalls and chants aimed at the justice minister. When the PM led the delegation outside to address the crowd after the service, protesters reportedly cut his microphone and began throwing rocks at the officials, forcing the PM to cancel the ceremony. The rock throwing continued as the delegation's motorcade departed Gonaives. The media estimated the number of protesters at 300; MINUSTAH sources reported that they quickly brought the situation under control after the PM's departure. Comment -------------- ¶6. (SBU) The La Scierie case and its aftermath and the latest unrest spurred by St. Pierre's funeral are emblematic of the worst kind of political manipulation of gangs and gang violence in Haiti. The root cause of gang rivalry in Gonvaives and St. Marc in recent years has been the desire of political figures to control the ports of those two coastal towns and benefit from the accompanying graft. Gangs originally made up of port workers in Gonaives (the "Cannibal Army" the most notorious among them) switched allegiance away from Aristide to Guy Phillipe and armed rebel forces prior to Aristide's departure. Informed observers report that Youri Latortue, himself a former Aristide supporter widely assumed to be involved in corruption, successfully co-opted these gangs in building his personal power base and political party, Artibonite in Action (LAA). His flogging of a conspiracy theory regarding Judge St. Pierre's death is his latest move to raise his profile and exploit anti-FL sentiment at the government's expense. Although the accusations against the justice minister appear preposterous on their face, they are taken seriously by a significant number of Haitians, as is Latortue's call for the justice minister's resignation. ¶7. (SBU) Comment Continued. Lost in the hullabaloo is reasoned assessment of the La Scierie case. Even more sensible commentators, including human rights advocates jumped to criticize Mayette's release as a further example of impunity for FL members, rather than examine the circumstances of his detention. The Haitian justice system imprisoned only a select few of the accused in the La Scierie case and has failed to move beyond the "preliminary investigation" phase after over three years. The appeals court over which Judge St. Pierre presided took nearly two years to make a decision -- Haitian law requires a decision from an appeals court within 30 days -- that further stalls the case. The justice system under both the provisional and Preval governments has failed miserably to elucidate the facts regarding a terrible incident and thus further obscured the the larger context around Gonaives and St. Marc where partisans of both sides probably committed numerous atrocities. Therein lies the scandal. SMITH