If Neptune is flown into exile, he wants the world to know, it was a kidnapping By Marguerite Laurent
May 1, 2005

If Prime Minister Yvon Neptune is flown out of Haiti, without his liberation orders and unconditional released having been signed by a Haitian judge, he wants the world to know he did not leave Haiti willingly -
that he was forced into exile. It was simply another kidnapping.

According to an AP article, written by Ariana Cubillos, dated today May
1, 2005, a Western diplomat who spoke on conditions of anonymity
reported that Prime Minister Yvon Neptune is flying into exile. Meanwhile,
Radio Kiskeya reported that Neptune already had been flown out late
Saturday after doctors said a hunger strike had left him near death.”
The same AP article reports “An official at Port-au-Prince's
international airport said they were on standby for the event but had not yet
received confirmation from officials in Haiti's interim government, who
could not be reached for comment.”

Yvon Neptune is too weak to speaka for himself right now. He is
critically ill from the hunger strike resume on April 17 and literally cannot
speak. His family fears his death is imminent.

We, at the Haitian Lawyers Leadership spoke to Yvon Neptune’s family
and friends in Haiti just minutes ago to get confirmation of this report
of "going into exitle" and one and all maintain that 1) Yvon Neptune is
still in prison in Haiti 2) He has not been told anything about going
into immediate exile for humanitarian purposes and 3) He would never
agree to do so. Thus, if Neptune is flown out of Haiti, he would not be
doing so willingly. Again, Mr. Neptune’s family stresses that Yvon
Neptune would never go into exile; that he has repeatedly maintained this
position: That he is an innocent man, wrongfully accused of a massacre
that the UN, the international press and reputable human rights
organization say did not happen. Additionally, this information we can personally
corroborate because Prime Minister Neptune, told Marguerite Laurent, in
early March, 2005, when we visited him at the prison, that he only
wishes to live as a free and innocent man in Haiti and for the interim
government to stop persecuting him and guarantee his safety. Yvon Neptune's
position explained to Congresswoman Waters and us at HLLN, when we
visited him on March 7, 2005 has not changed. He does not wish to go to
exile, or to leave Haiti as a marked criminal. He has spent ten (10)
months in the miserable, horrific Latortue jail in Haiti without being
charged or seeing a judge with his lawyer present.

Again, The AP report above cited is wrong. Yvon Neptune is still in
Haiti. He is critically ill because of the hunger strike and his family
fear he will not live much longer.

However, they stress that the only thing that would legitimately put
Neptune out of prison is a liberation order. That he will not leave
prison unless a judge has signed his liberation order and acknowledged his
innocence of all crimes. If, Neptune is flown to the Dominican Republic,
or anywhere else, as reported by AP, for any purposes whatsoever, and a
liberation order acknowledging his wrongful incarceration has not been
signed, then Prime Minister Neptune, through his family, wants the
world to know, he was forced to leave, that he was kidnapped out of Haiti
against his will and sent to exile in the same fashion as President
Aristide; in the same fashion, as when the authorities, last Friday on
April 22, 2005, had forced him, without his lawyer, to go to St. Marc where
even the judge did not know he was coming and reportedly refused to see
him. (See below, Green Left Weekly article by Alison Dellit - "Former
PM on hunger stike")

If Neptune is flown out of Haiti today or at any other time without a
complete exoneration already signed, then he wants the world to know he
was forced to leave Haiti by the UN/US/Canada/France and their
Latortue-supported death regime against his will. (See also Letter From Yvon
Neptune from Jail dated April 20, 2005)

"The hunger strike I began on February 20 was aimed at forcing the
government to set me free and to stop being the cause of my
insecurity.

Because of a promise the government had made that it was going to
liberate me, I agreed to put an end to my hunger strike and to go to
the Argentine Hospital under the jurisdiction of the MINUSTAH/United
Nations."

Right now, in the room of Yvon Neptune, we have been told a group of
Argentanian doctors have entered Neptune rooms and we are being told, via
telephone, that they want to give him a "serum" to force him out of the
prison. He is screaming, in only the whisper that he is capable of
uttering: NO, NO, NO. I've given no one authorization to sent me into
exile. I will die with my dignity or be set free from this prison without
conditions."

Marguerite Laurent, Esq.
Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network
May 1, 2005
*********

For more Background Information go to:

http://www.margueritelaurent.com/campaigns/campaignone/presswork/neptune.html

Please write letters denouncing this other kidnapping before it is
COMPLETED and demand the immediate and unconditional release from prison of
Prime Minister Yvon Neptune and all the political prisoners in Haiti.

Sign the petition demanding release of Yvon Neptune at:
http://www.haitiechange.org/avis.htm
*****
Reuters AlertNet
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N02273237.htm
May 2, 2005
Haiti's jailed ex-PM wants freedom or death
Source: Reuters

By Joseph Guyler Delva

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, May 2 (Reuters) - Haiti's jailed former Prime
Minister Yvon Neptune has been on hunger strike for about 15 days and
has refused medical care until the government drops its accusations
that he organized a massacre.

Neptune, 58, whose health was diagnosed as critical by U.N. doctors,
refused a government offer to fly him to the neighboring Dominican
Republic for treatment and told them he had to be cleared or would
die, government officials said.

Neptune has denied the accusations against him and accused Haiti's
interim government of jailing him for political reasons.
"Mr. Neptune said he would accept to be evacuated only if all the
charges brought against him were lifted," Mike Joseph, a spokesman
for interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, said in a statement late
Sunday. "Such demands are absolutely unacceptable."

Doctors from the United Nations' peacekeeping contingent in Haiti
said on Saturday that Neptune's vital functions were seriously
threatened and he was near death.

Interim President Boniface Alexandre's chief of staff, Michel
Brunache, said the government had done all it could to help the
former prime minister "but we cannot force Mr. Neptune to live if he
does not want to," he told Reuters on Monday.

Neptune was arrested on June 27, 2004, and has been held at the
Port-au-Prince national penitentiary without being formally charged
by a judge.

Neptune served under ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was
forced into exile during a revolt in February 2004.

Neptune is accused of masterminding what Aristide's opponents called
a massacre on Feb. 11, 2004, in La Syrie, a village near St. Marc 60
miles (95 km) north of Port-au-Prince.

The accusations were brought by the National Coalition for Haitian
Rights and a St. Marc group known as RAMICOSM, which opposed Aristide
and his Lavalas Family party. The two groups said 50 people were
killed by Aristide supporters.

A U.N. human rights envoy in Haiti, Louis Joinet, conducted an
investigation in St. Marc last month and concluded that about 25
people -- supporters and opponents of Aristide -- were killed in
clashes there in February 2004.

Joinet characterized the deaths as the result of a "confrontation"
and not a massacre.

Neptune previously went on a 19-day hunger strike to protest his
detention, but ended it in March when the government took him to a
United Nations hospital for treatment.
Copyright © Reuters

******
Posted on Sun, May. 01, 2005
Ex-Haiti PM reportedly flying into exile
ARIANA CUBILLOS
Associated Press

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - The former prime minister under ousted
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is flying into exile after months in
detention, a Western diplomat and a radio station reported Sunday.
Former Premier Yvon Neptune, who had been held without charge for 10
months in connection with political killings during the February 2003
rebellion that ousted Aristide, will be flown to the neighboring Dominican
Republic by helicopter on Sunday, the diplomat said. The diplomat spoke
on condition of anonymity because a formal announcement has not been
made.

Independent Radio Kiskeya reported that Neptune already had been flown
out late Saturday after doctors said a hunger strike had left him near
death. The discrepancy could not immediately be reconciled.

An official at Port-au-Prince's international airport said they were on
standby for the event but had not yet received confirmation from
officials in Haiti's interim government, who could not be reached for
comment.

Neptune initially was considered a traitor by Aristide loyalists when
he handed power to an interim president, Boniface Alexandre, within days
of Aristide's Feb. 29 flight as rebels led by former soldiers were
converging on the capital.

At the time Neptune resisted pressure from diplomats and interim
government officials, installed after U.S. troops arrived, to go into exile.
After his arrest in June, he became a rallying point for both militants
demanding the release of hundreds of Aristide officials and loyalists
jailed without charge, as well as for human rights activists demanding
he be tried. Aristide is in exile in South Africa.

The interim government of Prime Minister Gerard Latortue accused
Neptune of orchestrating the killing of Aristide opponents in the western
town of St. Marc during the rebellion, allegations he denies.
Latortue had resisted months of international pressure to release
Neptune.
******

Green Left Weekly
http://www.greenleft.org.au/index.htm
May 4, 2005

HAITI: Former PM on hunger strike
by Alison Dellit

A little more than a year after US Marines kidnapped democratically
elected Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and installed
opponent Gerard Latortue as an “interim” prime minister, the world’s
fourth poorest country remains in chaos. Although Aristide’s Lavalas
Movement is the most popular political party, the government remains
in power through the force of the Haitian police force, backed by
United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) forces.

The Haitian police have been widely condemned for human rights
abuses. Amnesty International has documented numerous arbitrary
arrests and summary executions of Lavalas members. On April 29,
Haitian police shot dead nine protesters at a march demanding the
return of Aristide.

Adding to police violence are the terrorisation tactics of the former
Haitian Army — CIA-trained thugs whose invasion provided cover for
the coup against Aristide. These “soldiers” have been responsible for
rape and murder rampages through the slum areas that constitute
Aristide’s support base, with neither the police nor MINUSTAH troops
able or willing to stop it.

Meanwhile, disease and starvation stalk the country’s population and
a US$1 billion aid package promised after the coup by Western
countries has failed to materialise.

Aristide has refused to accept the legitimacy of the interim
government, and it is unclear whether Lavalas will agree to
participate in elections scheduled for later this year, given the
extremely violent political climate.

Four months after his installation, Latortue had Yvon Neptune, the
prime minister under Aristide, arrested and charged with murder. On
February 11, 2004, Neptune fought and defeated an armed gang-led
uprising near the village of Saint-Marc. While Aristide’s opponents
claim 50 people were killed by those under Neptune’s command, the UN
independent expert on human Rights in Haiti concluded “there was no
massacre”. However, Latortue has pushed for his prosecution.

In mid-February, Neptune commenced a hunger strike, which continued
until he was taken to a United Nations-run hospital on March 20. On
April 17, however, he recommenced the hunger strike. By April 29,
members of the Committee to Protect the Human rights of the Haitian
People reported that he was “closer to death than to life”. He wrote
this letter to his supporters on April 20. (Translation by Serge
Bellegarde, Guy Antoine and Marilyn Mason.)

From the time I left the prime minister's residence on March 12, 2004
... the source of my insecurity had been the government ... The
government deprived me of my freedom of movement, together with my
freedom to speak freely, with all the length and breadth and depth
that the Constitution allows for this right to be exercised.

The hunger strike I began on February 20 was aimed at forcing the
government to set me free and to stop being the cause of my
insecurity.

Because of a promise the government had made that it was going to
liberate me, I agreed to put an end to my hunger strike and to go to
the Argentine Hospital under the jurisdiction of the MINUSTAH/United
Nations.

Even while in that hospital, however, my insecurity continued because
of the government's continuing refusal to set me free.

That is why, while I was in the hospital managed by the
Argentinians/MINUSTAH, I continued to resist so that the United
Nations would require that the government free me and stop
threatening my life. It was in the context of the dilatory tactics of
this wicked government that I was obliged to resume my hunger strike
with even more force.

My friends, listen. This plot aims at keeping me in prison by all
means for as long as possible; that is one objective. The second
objective is to take me, no matter what the conditions, to Saint-Marc
to continue the political humiliation.

Friends, listen: while I was already into the fifth day of my
complete hunger strike, on April 21, having given me guarantees that
nothing would happen to me, the United Nations forces took me,
against my will, to a supposed prison villa in Pacot, close to the
General Administration and Inspection Headquarters of the police,
despite the fact that I had explained to the UN representative that
this was a trap that the de-facto government had set up to implement
the death plan it had for me. Above all, I told them that I would
maintain my hunger strike in this supposed prison villa as long as I
was not set free.

My friends, on April 22, early in the morning, a team of seven to 10
executioners I recognised from the prison system burst in on me to
take me to Saint-Marc. I felt my life was in danger in the presence
of these executioners; I told them I had not eaten, nor drunk
anything in five days, and I asked them to leave me in peace because
I was weak. When they picked me up with force, put me outside, and
tried to handcuff me, I resisted for my life and I bit one of the
many arms trying to force handcuffs on my wrists.

They drove me to Saint-Marc. I threw up all along the way. When we
arrived in Saint-Marc, nothing was done. Supposedly, Mrs Cluny Pierre
Jules, the supposed investigating judge, declared that she was not
coming because she had not been previously notified.

When the UN representative received news of what the conditions were
in Saint-Marc and of what kind of state I was in, he sent a
helicopter to pick me up and take me back to Port-au-Prince, where I
received some care in a UN ambulance which escorted me back to the
supposed prison villa in Pacot.

I am continuing my hunger strike, so that I can regain my freedom and
my security and so that the de facto government will stop threatening
my life, while it continues to trample on my dignity.

Yvon Neptune
Former prime minister
Member of the Lavalas Movement
Political prisoner
At the Prison in Pacot, Port-au-Prince From Green Left Weekly, May 4, 2005.
******************************************************************

See also:
Bush Administration 'Broke its own embargo to sell arms to Haiti police'-
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=630156 ;

U.S. Funnels $7Million in Arms to Haiti's Puppet Regime, Death Squads
http://auto_sol.tao.ca/node/view/1303 ;

Failures of MINUSTHA: The Harvard Law School Report
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/campaigns/campaignone/human_rights_reports/harvard.html
;
Small Arms Survey report:
http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/publications/occasional.htm ;

MATTERS ABOUT THE BI-CENTENNIAL COUP TO BE INVESTIGATED
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/law/matterstoinvestigage.html ;
and,

UN Security Council Goes to Haiti to stop Calls for Resignation of the
Latortue Regime and support U.N. troop accused of a failed mission and
of conducting summary executions -
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/pressclips/securitycouncilgoeshaiti.html
and,

Human Rights Investigation Calls Haiti “More Violent and More Inhuman”;
Report Documents U.S. Role in Chaotic Interim Government
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0129-28.htm

Download CSHR report at:
http://www.law.miami.edu/news/368.html

****************
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Please call, e-mail and fax letters the officials listed below and your
local and national media.
**
UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)
PHONE: 011.509.244.9650.9660
FAX: 011.509.244.9366/67

Address MINUSTHA letters individually to:

Mr. Juan Gabriel Valdes, Kofi Annan's Special UN Envoy to Haiti

Lt. General Augusto Heleno Ribeiro Pereira, UN Military Commander
in Haiti

Mahamane Cisse-Guoro , UN Human Rights Office in Haiti
***************
THE UNITED NATIONS:
Fax No. (212) 963-4879
Hon. Kofi Annan, Secretary-General
United Nations
United Nations Headquarters
First Avenue at 46th Street
New York, NY 10017
212-963-5012
inquiries@un.org
Fax No. (212) 963-4879
************
U.S. Ambassador to Haiti: James B. Foley
Fax: U.S. Embassy, Port-au-Prince - 011-509-223-9038 or
011-509-223-1641
Call: U.S. Embassy, Port-au-Prince - 011-509-223-4711

State Department Haiti Desk, Washington
202 -647-2901
Anthony Beaver/John Mariz, State Department Haiti Desk - 202- 647-5088

Email: noriegarf@state.gov (Roger Noriega Assistant Secretary of State
for Western Hemisphere Affairs;

BanksD@state.gov (Dana Banks, Human Rights Officer, U.S. Embassy,
Port-au-Prince)

SEND COPIES TO AS MANY OF THESE PEOPLE AS YOU CAN including your
congressperson, local and national media (See contact for local & National
media at:
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/contactinformation/local-national-media.html
; U.S. congress at:
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/contactinformation/uscongress.html )
******
**********
Haiti's regime:
M. Bernard Gousse
Minister of Justice and Public Safety
9 Ave. Charles Sumner
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
c/o Embassy of the Republic of Haiti - Washington, DC
Fax 202 745-7215
**********
African Union Headquaters
P.O. Box 3243
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Tel: (251) 1 51 77 00
Fax (251) 1 51 78 44
website: www.africa-union.org
email for President Alpha Oumar Konare: KonareAO@africa-union.org
**********
CARICOM & OAS
Call, e-mail, fax and write CARICOM: 011-592-226-9280,
webmaster@caricom.org
Call, e-mail, fax and/or write Huntley Medley, Public Relations
Consultant, Office of the Secretary-General, Tel: (592) -226-9280-9 or
227-4671 , Email: hmedley@caricom.org.

cc: OAS Leinaudi@oas.org, HunterJ14@aol.com,
gunter.burghardt@cec.eu.int, AntBar@oas.org, Argentina@oas.org,
Bahamas@oas.org, Barbados@oas.org, Belize@oas.org, Bolivia@oas.org,
Brazil@oas.org, Canada@oas.org, Chile@oas.org, Colombia@oas.org,
Costa-Rica@oas.org, Dominica@oas.org, Ecuador@oas.org,
ElSalvador@oas.org, Grenada@oas.org, Guatemala@oas.org, Guyana@oas.org,
Haiti@oas.org, Honduras@oas.org, Jamaica@oas.org, Mexico@oas.org,
Nicaragua@oas.org, Panama@oas.org, Paraguay@oas.org, Peru@oas.org,
Republica-Dominicana@oas.org, StKitt&Nevis@oas.org, StLucia@oas.org,
StVnG@oas.org, Suriname@oas.org, TnT@oas.org, Uruguay@oas.org,
USA@oas.org, Venezuela@oas.org, vze4ksd@verizon.net

cc: African Union:
Chairman of the African Union (AU), President Alpha Oumar Konare:
KonareAO@africa-union.

********SAMPLE LETTER #1
Hon. Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary-General
By Fax: 212.963.4879
Cc:
UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)
c/o Office of UN General Secretary (New York)
By Fax: 212.963.4879

UN Human Rights Adviser Mahamane Cisse-Gouro
By e-mail: cisse-gouro@un.org.May 1, 2005

Dear Mr. Secretary General,

Please find below an account by the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network
of the kind of "justice" that the UN troops are presiding over and sponsoring in
Haiti, following the February 2004 coup against the constitutional government
then led by President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and Prime Minister Yvon Neptune
(currently near death).

Mr. Secretary General, will you stand by will Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, an innocent man, dies in the custody of MINUSTHA/Latortue guards and doctors. Will you continue to
stand as Pontus Pilate, washing your hands and pretending to see or hear no
evil in occupied Haiti? Yet, the record shows that all along you were kept
abreast of the criminal actions of the puppet regime your U.N. troops are propping up in Haiti.

Sir, it is not too late to do at least one right thing on this
disastrous U.N. policy in Haiti and save the life of Yvon Neptune. He does not want to go into forced exile and has been in prison, for a crime U.N. observes have already deternmine never happened. UN troops promised they would assure his liberation (See Yvon Neptune Letter dated April 20, 2005) but backed away from assuring his liberation and safety. He is now dying. Please, the U.N. should officially demand the immediate and unconditional release of Prime Minister Yvon Neptune. That would be the right and ethical use of U.N. power and mandate.

Sincerely,

Name:_____________
Location:___________(ie.Spring Valley, NY)
Email ____________

***************

SAMPLE LETTER #2

Mahamane Cisse-Gouro, UN Human Rights Adviser
UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)
By e-mail: cisse-gouro@un.org
by FAX: 011.509.244.9366/67
PHONE: 403-4012 / 527-5274 or, 011.509.244.9650.9660
Cc:

UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)
c/o Office of UN General Secretary (New York)
Hon. Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary-General
By Fax: 212.963.4879

Ambassador James B. Foley, U.S. Embassy, Port-au-Prince
By fax: - 011-509-223-9038 or 011-509-223-1641

Email: noriegarf@state.gov (Roger Noriega Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs; BanksD@state.gov (Dana Banks, Human Rights Officer, U.S. Embassy, Port-au-Prince)

Toussaint Kongo-Doudou, Chief of Communications, United Nations Support Mission To Haiti
by e-mail: kongo-doudou@un.org

African Union, President Alpha Oumar Konare
Email: KonareAO@africa-union.org
*
Dear Mahamane Cisse-Gouro

Please see to it that the UN guarantees the safety of Prime Minister Yvon Neptune and assure he is not forced into exile against his will but exonerated from trumped up charges he has served 10 months of prison time for.

The U.N., as the formost guarantor of human rights, should not be complicit in the detention and death of Prime Minister Yvon Neptune and all the other prisoners of conscience in Haiti right now.

The Harvard report shows the human rights abuses and failures of the U.N. troops to fulfill
its mandate in Haiti since arriving in Haiti. It maintained the UN troops in Haiti were not only complicit in Haitian police abuses, but that there were "credible allegations of human rights abuses perpetrated by MINUSTAH itself". This must stop begining with preserving the lives and freedoms of Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, all the supporters of former President Arisitide now in jail and the people in Cite Soleil and throughout Haiti that the U.N. was sent to protect. Please see to it that there is no further kidnapping of duly appointed leaders of the Constitutional government of Haiti. Do not stand by idly while Yvon Neptune die or is forced into exile (another sort of death) against his will.

Sincerely,

(Name:____________
Address:
Phone: ______________)

***************

SAMPLE LETTER (Sent from Canada to Prime Minister Martin from HLLN member Jean St Vil- May 1, 2005)

Mr. Prime Minister,

Please find below - (Yvon Neptune reportedly will be forced into exile
by Marguerite Laurent, May 1, 2005 ) - an account by the Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network
of the kind of "justice" that the Canadian government is sponsoring in
Haiti, following the February 2004 coup against the constitutional government
then led by President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and Prime Minister Yvon Neptune
(currently near death).

Prime Minister Martin, do you still stand by your incredible December
2004 claim that "there are no political prisoners in Haiti"? Will you
continue to stand as Pontus Pilate, washing your hands and pretending to see or
hear no evil in occupied Haiti? Yet, the record shows that all along you were
kept abreast of the criminal actions of the puppet regime your
administration, among others, forced upon the Haitian people following the racist coup
of 2004?

Sir, it is not too late to do at least one right thing on this
disastrous foreign policy adventure where your imagined "responsibility to
protect" has obviously turned into an unbearable nightware for the people of Haiti.
I do not know whether you will continue to wash your hands of all
responsibility (self-claimed or other) or whether you will finally
stand up as a true leader, conscious of his very real "obligation to respect
human life and dignity", to help set the captives free in Haiti. Whatever
your chosen path Mr. Prime Minister, let it be known that in the crowd of
Canadians deathened by your loud silence and disgusted by the strategic
inaction thus far, this one son of Haiti and citizen of Canada was not
among those cheering on the local executioners and their foreign sponsors
"crucify Prime Minister Neptune!". Rather, we will continue to call on all
those associated with this imposed dictatorship to:

FREE NEPTUNE! FREE HAITI ! FREE ALL PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE IN OCCUPIED
HAITI!

Jean Saint-Vil
Gatineau, Canada

"In this generation, we will have to repent not merely for the awful
words and actions of the bad people but also for the appalling silence of the
good people" Dr. Martin Luther King (true humanitarian and real leader!).

********
Fax to: U.S. Embassy, Port-au-Prince - 011-509-223-9038 or 011-509-223-1641

State Department Haiti Desk, Washington - 202 -647-2901

Call: U.S. Embassy, Port-au-Prince - 011-509-223-4711

Anthony Beaver/John Mariz, State Department Haiti Desk - 202- 647-5088

Email: noriegarf@state.gov (Roger Noriega Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs; BanksD@state.gov (Dana Banks, Human Rights Officer, U.S. Embassy, Port-au-Prince)

SEND COPIES TO AS MANY OF THESE PEOPLE AS YOU CAN
_____________________________________________________________________
Fax No. (212) 963-4879
Hon. Kofi Annan, Secretary-General
United Nations
United Nations Headquarters
First Avenue at 46th Street
New York, NY 10017

Dear Secretary-General Annan:The UN Mission in Haiti, MINUSTAH, works closely with the Haitian police, often providing support for arrests that are made without a warrant. MINUSTAH's role in Haiti, its participation in arrest operations, and the UN's historical role in promoting human rights all place an obligation on you and on MINUSTAH to ensure that suspected wrongdoers are afforded justice and benefit from the basic guarantees of the Universal Declaration and the Haitian Constitution.

Prime Minister Yvon Neptune has been in jail, for a crime the international press, UN officials and human rights organizations say did not happen. PM Neptune has been on a hunger strike now, for the second time, for a week and is reported to be critically ill and close to death. He does not wish to go into exile and wishes only to be set free by order of a judge. For U.N. troops to help hold Yvon Neptune under the conditions he has been held under, without being charged, without trial or properly being presented before a judge, is in contradiction of the U.N. mandate to protect civilians and bring stability and security to Haiti. Moreover, in the case of PM Neptune, he maintains in his letter from jail dated April 20, 2005 that he initially went on his first hunger strike because MINUSTHA had promised he would be liberated from prison. This has not happened.

It's in violation of the basic guarantees of the Universal Declaration, the U.N. mandate, the guarantees enshrined in Haiti's Constitution to indefinitely incarcerated someone without formal charges or trial. Yvon Neptune does not wish to be sent into exile, for any reasons whatsoever.

He wishes the interim government to release him as an exonerated man and to ensure his safety to live freely in Haiti from State-sponsored UN-backed oppression and jail.

There are indications that U.N. doctors and the Haitian authorities may be conspiring to force him into exile under the pretext of getting "medical care" and then sit back as the Haitian authorities refuse him entry as a "wanted criminal." (See, Yvon Neptune reportedly will be forced into exile by Marguerite Laurent, May 1, 2005) Accordingly, I urge you to use all of your considerable influence with the interim Haitian government and the international community to ensure the safety of Prime Minister Yvon Neptune and that he is immediately released from prison, allowed to live as a free man in Haiti and not be forced into exile.

Sincerely,
________________________
With Copies to: kongo-doudou@un.org (Toussaint Kongo-Doudou, Chief of Communications, United Nations Support Mission To Haiti)


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Human Rights Investigation Calls Haiti “More Violent and More Inhuman”; Report Documents U.S. Role in Chaotic Interim Government
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0129-28.htm

Download CSHR report at:
http://www.law.miami.edu/news/368.html

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Forwarded by the Haitian Lawyers' Leadership Network
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Men Anpil Chaj Pa Lou!!! - is Kreyol for "Many hands make light a heavy load."

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Here is what you can do to help us help the people of Haiti:
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HLLN - Action Requested from Haiti solidarity groups and
Haitian activists for justice and democracy:

Subscribe to and circulate the Ezili Danto mailings and posts to your mailing lists and e-mail contacts. Subscribe or unsubscribe by writing to: Erzilidanto@yahoo.com

Adopt and circulate the Haiti Resolution (updated below) from the Haitian Lawyers
Leadership Network

Circulate the human rights reports, especially the latest Miami Law Center report

Do Press Work: Join our letter writing campaigns to help free the political prisoners in Haiti, to stop the persecution of Haiti's most popular political party and democratic movement and to restore Constitutional rule. Write a letter, call the media, fax, - See our Press Work page for sample letters and for contact information.

Volunteer to help us maintain our Contact Information Sheet by sending us updated or new phone numbers and addresses to put on our Contact Information Sheet pages

Virtual interns and volunteers are also needed to help us translate selected materials into French, Kreyol, or Spanish to reach a wider audience. Volunteers with some research and computer skills are likewise needed to help us update our "List of Victims" and "Personal Testimonies" pages under Campaign One. (We have the information, what we don't have we know where to extrapolate them, but need help to put it together and in the format on our website page.)

More Network volunteer also needed to concentrate as primary coordinators/contributors to one of our seven campaigns

One internet savvy volunteer needed who is interested in logging and archiving, for our new Ezili Danto blog, (not yet unveiled) the regular Erzilidanto posts we send out so that those who only want to see these at their leisure, or, who cannot receive daily mailings, will have alternative access to these materials and posts, in an archived format.

Fundraise for the work of HLLN. Donate to our projects. Or, earn money, save lives and spread meaning and value by becoming an HLLN Marketing Associate trained to train other HLLN Associates and licensed to use our logo and HLLN materials to sponsor a "To Tell The Truth about Haiti Forum and Teach-In." Proceeds from such courses and teach ins will go to pay the Associate and to continue the work of HLLN projects, such as, our partnership with AUMOHD, the young human rights lawyers in Haiti who are defending the defenseless poor whose only crime is that they voted for Lavalas, supported Constitutional rule or are resisting a return of the bloody U.S.-trained Haitian army and US-sponsored dictatorship. For information on AUMOHD, go to: http://www.april6vt.org/
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The Haiti Resolution:
1. Support the return of constitutional rule to Haiti by restoring all elected officials of all parties to their offices throughout the country until the end of their mandates and another election is held, as mandated by Haiti's Constitution;

2. Condemn the killings, illegal imprisonment and confiscation of the property of supporters of Haiti's constitutional government and insist that Haiti's illegitimate "interim government" immediately cease its own persecution and put a stop to persecution by the thugs and murderers from sectors in their police force,
from the paramilitaries, gangs and former soldiers;

3. Insist on the immediate release of all political prisoners in Haitian jails, including Prime Minister Yvon Neptune, other constitutional government officials and folksinger-activist Sò Ann;

4. Insist on the disarmament of the thugs, death squad leaders and convicted human rights violators and their prosecution for all crimes committed during the attack on Haiti's elected government and help rebuild Haiti's police force, ensuring that it excludes anyone who helped to overthrow the democratically elected
government or who participated in other human rights violations;

5. Stop the indefinite detention and automatic repatriation of Haitian refugees and immediately grant Temporary Protected Status to all Haitian refugees presently in the United States until democracy is restored to Haiti; and

6. Support the calls by the OAS, CARICOM and the African Union for an investigation into the circumstances of President Aristide's removal. Support the enactment of Congresswoman Barbara Lee's T.R.U.T.H Act (HR 3919) which calls for a U.S. Congressional investigation of the forcible removal of the democratically elected President and government of Haiti.

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