JUDICIAL/POLICE TENSIONS REEMERGE

C O N F I D E N T I A L PORT AU PRINCE 000089 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR 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: DECL: 01/19/2017 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL HA SUBJECT: JUDICIAL/POLICE TENSIONS REEMERGE REF: A. 02187 ¶B. 02453 Classified By: CDA T. CLIFFORD TIGHE, REASONS 1.4(B) AND (D). ¶1. (U) Chief Prosecutor for Port-au-Prince Claudy Gassant announced on January 7 that the previous night unknown individuals purportedly entered the prosecutors' office and stole investigation files and weapons and other evidence held in pending cases. Gassant also criticized the Haitian Nation Police (HNP) for its failure to provide adequate security at the prosecutors' office, despite Gassant's previous requests for HNP presence at the facility. ¶2. (U) On January 10, Minister of Justice Rene Magloire, Secretary of State for Public Security Luc Eucher, and HNP SIPDIS Director General Mario Andresol appeared unannounced at Gassant's office to investigate the incident, accompanied by several journalists. The trio interviewed the court clerk on duty during the break-in and other office staff. Immediately afterwards, Magloire and Eucher stated on camera that there was no evidence of forcible entry and implied that Gassant may have made up some or all of the account. They also questioned why Gassant's office would have weapons on the premises. Andresol made no public comments. ¶3. (SBU) Gassant counter-charged that the delegation had conducted an unauthorized investigation without his knowledge or presence -- Gassant later told Polcouns he believed Andresol and Eucher deliberately sought to embarrass him -- and that he would not return to work until the minister of justice reconfirmed the respective authority of the police and judiciary and set up an independent inquiry into the break-in at his office. President Preval also entered the fray at a press conference on January 11 on his return from Nicaragua, criticizing the manner in which Magloire and Eucher conducted their investigation. ¶4. (SBU) Gassant reaffirmed to Polcouns on January 17 that he had no intention of resigning, but would not return to work until the justice minister answered his letter, which he had forwarded on Friday, January 12. ¶5. (C) Comment: This conflict, at root, appears to be a simple personality clash between Gassant and Andresol, and to a lesser extent Gassant and Eucher. By Gassant's own account, he maintained a friendly relationship with Andresol dating from when both were in exile in Miami (at the end of Aristide's last term) up to his re-appointment as chief prosecutor. When he failed to back HNP official Michael Lucius unconditionally in his dispute with Judge Napela Saintil, however, the relationship fractured (reftels). Gassant offers justifiable and reasonable explanations for all his actions, but based on our limited contact with him he appears to be an exceedingly difficult person to work with: arrogant, uncompromising, and prone to interminable legalistic lectures in his own defense. The minister of justice may intercede and mediate the tensions between the two sides, but he is not a forceful personality and did nothing to resolve the first dispute between Lucius and Saintil. It appears that the tension between two exceptionally strong personalities, Andresol and Gassant, will persist, complicating efforts to improve security and implement police and judicial reform. TIGHE