Citing Violations of Human Rights Law, U.S. Students Shine International Spotlight on Hundreds of Forgotten Political Prisoners in Haitian Jails Awaiting Justice

Newark, N.J. – Joining forces with a trans-continental team of attorneys, on April 11, 2006, the Seton Hall University School of Law Immigration and Human Rights Clinic filed a Petition before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), challenging the imprisonment without charge of Haitian national, Bob Moličre. The petition cites violations of the Haitian Constitution and international human rights treaties, including the American Convention on Human Rights.

The complaint was brought by the Seton Hall Law clinic, the Haiti-based Bureau des Avocats Internationaux, and the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti.

Last spring, the Interim Government of Haiti (“IGH”) arrested Mr. Moličre, a grassroots activist, without a warrant, tortured him and held him without charges for nearly a year. During his unlawful detention, Mr. Moličre endured a grossly overcrowded, unhygienic cell and inadequate food, water, ventilation, and medical treatment. The complaint charges that in violation of Haiti’s Constitution and international law, the IGH imprisoned Mr. Moličre—and hundreds of other poor Haitian civilians—solely for their political beliefs.

In addition to seeking the immediate release of Mr. Moličre, Professor Lori Nessel, Director of Seton Hall Law School’s Immigration and Human Rights Clinic explained, Mr. Moličre’s lawyers also seek to draw international attention to the hundreds of other Haitian political prisoners. Like Bob Moličre, these individuals are held in prison without charges or judicial oversight.

“Sadly, the human rights abuses committed by the Interim Government of Haiti against Bob Moličre are emblematic of the violations committed against hundreds of other poor Haitians civilians on account of their political beliefs,” Professor Nessel said. “We resort to the Inter-American Commission to secure the immediate release of Bob Moličre, and to vindicate the rights of this forgotten class of political prisoners because the Haitian judicial system has failed them.” Said Patrick Hobbs, Dean of Seton Hall Law School: “If Haiti is to realize its dream of becoming a functioning democracy, it must start by fulfilling the promise of the rule of law to those in opposition and not just to those in power.”

“Throughout its period of control, the illegitimate government of Haiti has jailed hundreds of poor, grassroots Lavalas supporters without respect for Haitian legal procedures or in conformity with Constitutional protections,” stated Brian Concannon, Esq., Director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy and Haiti. “Many prisoners, like Bob Moličre, have been kept in jail for years without any legal justification. The interim government has only a month left to do the right thing and release those it has persecuted.”

The petition alleges that:

• The Interim Government of Haiti violated Mr. Moličre’s right to personal liberty under the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights by arresting him without a warrant and denying him meaningful judicial process;
   

• The Interim Government of Haiti has not produced any evidence of criminal wrongdoing by Mr. Moličre. Instead, the IGH has questioned him repeatedly about his political opinions and associations, particularly as they relate to his support for the Famni Lavalas movement;
   

• The Haitian police subjected Mr. Moličre to severe physical abuse that amounted to torture and cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment, including beatings, handcuffing him for days at a time, and stomping on his body;
   

• The detention of Mr. Moličre at Haiti’s National Penitentiary in a grossly overcrowded, unhygienic cell without adequate food, water, ventilation, and medical treatment—conditions described by a U.S. federal court as “reminiscent of a slave ship”—violates Mr. Moličre’s right to humane treatment under the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights.