PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (caribbeannetnews) - Six years after the double assassination of renowned Haitian journalist Jean Dominique and his guard, Jean Claude Louissaint, the investigation is still in deadlock. The judge of instruction, Jean Ostrict Hercule, has been in charge of the affair since August 4, 2005, but withdrew his participation in the investigation citing personal reasons.
According to the chief of the civil court of Port-au-Prince, Rock Cadet, this decision constitutes a violation of the criminal instruction code. Although Mr. Cadet refuses to speak about the investigation being blocked, he explained that the law guarantees the independence of the judge of instruction on the jurisdictional level, but subjects him to the authority of the chief of the civil court.
According to Mr. Cadet, the Jean Dominique affair will be turned over to the Cabinet of Instruction. He added that administrative steps are being considered against the judge Jean Ostrict Hercule if such events occur again. On the sixth anniversary of the disappearance of the director of Radio Haiti Inter, Reporters sans Frontières (Reporters without Borders) called the president-elect Rene Préval to direct legal attention towards this affair. "The scandal caused by the suppression of the Jean Dominique affair is all the more serious as the identities of the alleged assassins were known. However, the three killers are currently at large," emphasized RSF.
According to the international organization for the defense for the freedom of the press, this affair reveals the need for extensive reforms of the legal system. This responsibility will fall on the government, which takes office after the second round of the legislative elections of April 21.
The National Association of the Haitian Media (ANMH) has united media directors to denounce the shameful mishandling of the assassination of Jean Dominique and Jean Claude Louissaint. According to the president of the ANMH, Anne-Marie Issa, such treatment sent a bad signal to delinquents and assassins. The human rights section of the UN Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) has also said, "Giving justice to Jean Dominique and to all the other victims of violence would be a good way to reassure the Haitian people, the unceasing victims of the consequences of impunity."
