Ronald Dauphin
Encyclopedia
Ronald Dauphin is a Haiti
an grassroots activist, customs worker and political prisoner
who has been imprisoned without trial since March 2004. A member of Fanmi Lavalas
, he was arrested by armed paramilitary troops on March 1, 2004 - the day after US officials forced Haiti's elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
into exile. Mr. Dauphin has spent the ensuing years in a Haitian prison without having been convicted of any crime.
and former Minister of the Interior Jocelerme Privert
. No one has been convicted, or even tried in connection with the La Scierie incident. Most defendants have had their charges dismissed. Louis Joinet, the United Nations Commission on Human Right's Independent Expert on Haiti, concluded after investigation that there was no "massacre" at La Scierie, but instead a clash between two armed groups.
Mr. Dauphin is represented by attorneys at the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux
(BAI), a public-interest law office in Haiti that handles political prisoner cases. BAI lawyers have filed three requests for pre-trial release on Mr. Dauphin's behalf, but the courts have declined to rule on them.
Since October 2004, the legal case has been stuck in limbo, with no progress or active investigation. At that time, Mr. Dauphin's co-defendants appealed the "ordonnance", loosely analogous to an indictment in the American system. The appellants won - the Appeals Court called the charging document full of "grave procedural errors" and characterized by "unjustified haste and deplorable thoughtlessness", in a decision handed down on April 13, 2007.
issued an Appeals Case for Dauphin. On June 10, 2009, U.S. Representative Maxine Waters
wrote two letters, one to Haitian Prime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis
,the other to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, urging both to act to ensure justice for Ronald Dauphin. On December 2, 2008, 51 U.S.-based human rights organizations wrote to President René Préval
asking for justice for Ronald Dauphin.
called on Haiti's government to promptly bring to trial or release all political prisoners, condemning the prolonged detention of Lavalas activists as politically motivated. In October 2006, the National Lawyers Guild
urged the Haitian government to release the remaining political prisoners, with particular emphasis on the defendants held in the La Scierie case. On December 14, 2008, the International Association of Democratic Lawyers(IADL) unanimously passed a Resolution calling for an end to Mr. Dauphin's persecution.
In May 2008, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
(IACHR) ruled that the State of Haiti
had violated the human rights of former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune
, another defendant in the La Scierie case, by holding him without trial for over two years with no proof he committed a crime. While Mr. Neptune was provisionally released, as was another defendant, Amanus Maette - Ronald Dauphin remains in prison.
Without adequate food, clean water, sanitation and medical attention, Dauphin's detention amounts to a death sentence, particularly because he is in ill health. His wife brings him food and medicine when she is able. But the cost of food is high, and the price of gas makes even getting to the prison a challenge. So Dauphin doesn't get to see his wife very often.Minimally, Dauphin says he should be offered medical release to have his undiagnosed symptoms treated by specialists. There is a prison dispensary "but conditions in the dispensary are not good. Every month since I've been here, someone has died in the dispensary," he says.
His co-defendant, Wantales Lormejuste, died in 2007 from untreated tuberculosis contracted inside prison.
As bad as he feels for himself, Dauphin says his wife's situation is worse. "I can't tell you how much she feels alone", he said. "God is with her. It's like she is in jail. One day this will end. I will keep praying. There is hope that one day I will be free."
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
an grassroots activist, customs worker and political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
who has been imprisoned without trial since March 2004. A member of Fanmi Lavalas
Fanmi Lavalas
Fanmi Lavalas is a leftist political party in Haiti. Its leader is former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. It has been a powerful force in Haitian politics since 1991. Fanmi Lavalas governments supported a policy of "growth with equity" based on Caribbean and Western European social...
, he was arrested by armed paramilitary troops on March 1, 2004 - the day after US officials forced Haiti's elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Jean-Bertrand Aristide is a Haitian former Catholic priest and politician who served as Haiti's first democratically elected president. A proponent of liberation theology, Aristide was appointed to a parish in Port-au-Prince in 1982 after completing his studies...
into exile. Mr. Dauphin has spent the ensuing years in a Haitian prison without having been convicted of any crime.
Legal background
Ronald Dauphin is the last detainee held for the so-called La Scierie massacre, that Lavalas opponents claimed happened in the city of St. Marc, Haiti in February, 2004. Other La Scierie defendants were former Haitian Prime Minister Yvon NeptuneYvon Neptune
Yvon Neptune was Prime Minister of Haïti from 2002 until 2004. He was appointed by President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and took office on March 15, 2002...
and former Minister of the Interior Jocelerme Privert
Jocelerme Privert
Jocelerme Privert is a former minister of the interior of Haïti. He was arrested in 2004 on charges of killing Jean-Bertrand Aristide opponents. He was the first former member of the Aristide government to be imprisoned since he left the nation....
. No one has been convicted, or even tried in connection with the La Scierie incident. Most defendants have had their charges dismissed. Louis Joinet, the United Nations Commission on Human Right's Independent Expert on Haiti, concluded after investigation that there was no "massacre" at La Scierie, but instead a clash between two armed groups.
Mr. Dauphin is represented by attorneys at the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux
Bureau des Avocats Internationaux
The Bureau des Avocats Internationaux is a public interest law office located in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, founded in 1995. Its mission is to work with victims of human rights violations to force open the doors of Haiti's justice system for the majority of Haitians who are poor...
(BAI), a public-interest law office in Haiti that handles political prisoner cases. BAI lawyers have filed three requests for pre-trial release on Mr. Dauphin's behalf, but the courts have declined to rule on them.
Since October 2004, the legal case has been stuck in limbo, with no progress or active investigation. At that time, Mr. Dauphin's co-defendants appealed the "ordonnance", loosely analogous to an indictment in the American system. The appellants won - the Appeals Court called the charging document full of "grave procedural errors" and characterized by "unjustified haste and deplorable thoughtlessness", in a decision handed down on April 13, 2007.
International support for justice for Ronald Dauphin
On August 7, 2009 Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
issued an Appeals Case for Dauphin. On June 10, 2009, U.S. Representative Maxine Waters
Maxine Waters
Maxine Waters is the U.S. Representative for , and previously the 29th district, serving since 1991. She is a member of the Democratic Party....
wrote two letters, one to Haitian Prime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis
Michèle Pierre-Louis
Michèle Duvivier Pierre-Louis is a Haitian politician who was Prime Minister of Haiti from September 2008 to November 2009...
,the other to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, urging both to act to ensure justice for Ronald Dauphin. On December 2, 2008, 51 U.S.-based human rights organizations wrote to President René Préval
René Préval
René Garcia Préval is a Haitian politician and agronomist who was the President of the Republic of Haiti from 14 May 2006 to 14 May 2011. He previously served as President from February 7, 1996, to February 7, 2001, and as Prime Minister from February 1991 to October 11, 1991.-Early life and...
asking for justice for Ronald Dauphin.
Human rights organizations urge release of Haiti's political prisoners
In August 2006, Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
called on Haiti's government to promptly bring to trial or release all political prisoners, condemning the prolonged detention of Lavalas activists as politically motivated. In October 2006, the National Lawyers Guild
National Lawyers Guild
The National Lawyers Guild is an advocacy group in the United States "dedicated to the need for basic and progressive change in the structure of our political and economic system . ....
urged the Haitian government to release the remaining political prisoners, with particular emphasis on the defendants held in the La Scierie case. On December 14, 2008, the International Association of Democratic Lawyers(IADL) unanimously passed a Resolution calling for an end to Mr. Dauphin's persecution.
In May 2008, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
Inter-American Court of Human Rights
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is an autonomous judicial institution based in the city of San José, Costa Rica. Together with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, it makes up the human rights protection system of the Organization of American States , which serves to uphold and...
(IACHR) ruled that the State of Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
had violated the human rights of former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune
Yvon Neptune
Yvon Neptune was Prime Minister of Haïti from 2002 until 2004. He was appointed by President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and took office on March 15, 2002...
, another defendant in the La Scierie case, by holding him without trial for over two years with no proof he committed a crime. While Mr. Neptune was provisionally released, as was another defendant, Amanus Maette - Ronald Dauphin remains in prison.
Prison situation in Haiti
The IACHR declared conditions in Haiti's overcrowded prisons inhumane. Numerous human rights reports document that prisoners are dying inside the sweltering, overcrowded 3800-person National Penitentiary in the country's capital, Port-au-Prince. They suffer dehydration and disease from filthy water, and Beri beri from starvation rations. Cell "blocks" built to hold five or six people are packed with up to 70 and 80 bodies at a time; prisoners take shifts sleeping and standing.Without adequate food, clean water, sanitation and medical attention, Dauphin's detention amounts to a death sentence, particularly because he is in ill health. His wife brings him food and medicine when she is able. But the cost of food is high, and the price of gas makes even getting to the prison a challenge. So Dauphin doesn't get to see his wife very often.Minimally, Dauphin says he should be offered medical release to have his undiagnosed symptoms treated by specialists. There is a prison dispensary "but conditions in the dispensary are not good. Every month since I've been here, someone has died in the dispensary," he says.
His co-defendant, Wantales Lormejuste, died in 2007 from untreated tuberculosis contracted inside prison.
As bad as he feels for himself, Dauphin says his wife's situation is worse. "I can't tell you how much she feels alone", he said. "God is with her. It's like she is in jail. One day this will end. I will keep praying. There is hope that one day I will be free."
External links
- 53 Months in a Haitian Prison: No Day in Court for Ronald Dauphin by Judith Scherr, Counterpunch Sept 2008
- 2nd Report of the Haiti Accompaniment Project: Human Rights Conditions in Haiti's Prisons, July-Aug 2004
- National Lawyers Guild Calls On Haiti's Elected Government to Release Political Prisoners Remaining From the Latortue Dictatorship. October 26, 2006
- Haiti - Bring to Trial or Release All Political Prisoners Amnesty International Press Release, August 1, 2006
- International Association of Democratic Lawyers Resolution on Haiti
- University of Miami School of Law Center for the Study of Human Rights
- Haiti: Mysterious Prison Ailment Traced to U.S. Rice by Jeb Sprague and Eunida Alexandra (Inter Press Service)
- Political Prisoners in Haiti: Who Fr. Gerry Left Behind
- 51 organizations sign letter to President Preval urging release of Haitian Political Prisoner Ronald Dauphin