Yvon Neptune - Overview of Activity From 2004

Overview of Activity From 2004

On March 2, 2004, shortly after Aristide's removal, a mob attempted to arrest Neptune on corruption charges, but it was not successful. The mob was reportedly organized by Guy Philippe after Neptune gave an interview to Kevin Pina of KPFA Flashpoints in California and the Black Commentator, and Andrea Nicastro of the Italian daily Corriere della Sera. In the interview Neptune claims he was not even present when interim-president Boniface Alexandre was sworn into office. He also refers to himself as a prisoner in his own office and backs Aristide's claims that he was forced out of office under duress. US Marines guarding his residence killed two gunmen there. Neptune was replaced on March 12, 2004, by an unelected provisional government, led by Gérard Latortue, which had been appointed three days earlier.

On March 27, 2004, the provisional government banned Neptune from leaving the country, along with 36 other senior officials of the Aristide administration, in order to more easily investigate corruption allegations. On June 27, 2004, after hearing about a warrant for his arrest on the radio, Neptune turned himself in to the Haïtian police and was held without charge. According to the Haïtian constitution, a hearing before a judge is required within 48 hours for anyone arrested, but Neptune was not given such a hearing. On May 4, 2005, Thierry Fagart, the chief of the human rights division at the UN's Haiti mission, called Neptune's detention illegal.

On February 19, 2005, Neptune was taken into protective custody by United Nations peacekeeping forces and handed himself back to Haïtian authorities after a Port-au-Prince penitentiary breakout.

On April 18, 2005, Neptune began a hunger strike, refusing hospitalization and offers of medical attention abroad. On May 5 he was reported as being "near death". On June 23, Juan Gabriel Valdes - the UN's special envoy to Haïti - criticized the Haïtian government's handling of Neptune and called for his release from prison.

On September 14, 2005, 14 months after Neptune was first imprisoned, a formal statement of charges against him appeared. He was accused of participating in the "La Scierie Massacre," an alleged attack by Lavalas supporters in the La Scierie neighborhood of St. Marc. Subsequent investigations, including by the United Nations, revealed the massacre to be a struggle between two armed groups, with casualties on both sides. The Haitian Appeals Court prosecutor found that there was no credible evidence of Mr. Neptune’s involvement. Lawyers at the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights said that the statement of charges "contain no indication that Mr. Neptune directly perpetuated the crimes alleged against him nor is there a clearly defined connection between Mr. Neptune and those who are alleged to have perpetrated the crimes...The mental and factual elements necessary to establish Mr. Neptune’s responsibility…remain entirely unclear.”

In May 2006, the Haitian prosecutor recommended dropping the charges against Neptune, because there was no credible evidence to support them.

After spending two years in prison and never having been tried, he was released on July 28, 2006. The charges against him were not dropped; he was released on health and humanitarian grounds. Hundreds of other members or supporters of the deposed Aristide administration remained in custody without trial.

On April 13, 2007, the Appeals Court of Gonaives ruled that the courts had never had jurisdiction to try Mr. Neptune. Under Haiti’s Constitution, regular courts in Haiti cannot try high public officials unless they have been previously convicted by the High Court of Justice, a special court formed by the legislature, similar to impeachment in the United States. In September 2009, the Haitian Government served this decision on Mr. Neptune and the other parties. When the appeal period elapsed a few days later, the dismissal of all charges became official.