The request for help is still unanswered. Nearly five months after the murder of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, the United Nations (UN) continues to turn a deaf ear to Haiti’s request to hold an independent international commission of inquiry into this political crime.
This body is however considered “desirable” in order to provide the justice of this country with the possibility of shedding light on this crime, by overcoming the political influences and the corruption which undermine the current judicial investigation, considers one of the lawyers of the civil party.
The inertia of the UN is also not trivial, since it contrasts radically with the speed with which the organization set up such a commission barely two months after the assassination of the Lebanese Prime Minister. , Rafic Hariri in 2005. “As in Haiti, the country was then unable to carry out the investigation, summarizes the Montreal lawyer Philippe Larochelle, who is part of the team of international lawyers representing Joverlein Moïse, eldest son of the former -President, in this top-of-state murder case. There was a lot of interference within the justice system. And the international community then reacted very quickly. Which is unfortunately not the case here ”.
On August 3, less than a month after the murder of Jovenel Moïse, on the night of July 6 to 7, the Haitian government officially requested the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, to form a ” international commission of inquiry ”as well as a special court of justice.
In his letter, the Haitian Minister of Foreign Affairs at the time, Claude Joseph, stressed that Haiti considers the assassination of Jovenel Moïse as an international crime, because of the alleged role played by foreigners in the organization, funding and the execution of the attack.
Joined by The duty, Mr. Guterres’ office has confirmed having received this request, but remains uncertain about the response it intends to offer. “On September 25, before the General Assembly, the Prime Minister of Haiti Ariel Henry spoke of the need for mutual legal assistance,” indicates Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN secretary general. The Secretary General, through the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti, is therefore in contact with the Haitian authorities to precisely determine their needs in the context of their request for assistance, ”he adds without referring to the holding of a commission of inquiry.
“Parody of justice”
Last week, in the pages of To have to, Joverlein Moïse, son of the former president, deplored the silence of the international community, including Canada, in the face of the “parody of justice” which followed the assassination of his father.
The investigation is still stalled against a backdrop of violence, corruption and political obstacles to judicial investigation. Two days after the opening of the investigation, the clerk Ernst Lafortune, assigned to the office of the first examining magistrate Mathieu Chanlatte, was assassinated. The latter then resigned. In October, the office of the new judge, Garry Orélien was broken into in Port-au-Prince and his vehicle targeted by gun attacks in the street. At the end of November, the government announced the relocation of the courthouse to the capital, due to the insecurity that reigns there.
In the last days, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Claude Joseph was sacked, and this, the day after his attempt to extradite to Haiti one of the main suspects in the assassination of Jovenel Moïse: Mario Palacios Palacios, former Colombian military officer , arrested in Kingston, Jamaica in October. According to the investigation, Palacios was part of the four-man squad that entered the president’s room to assassinate him.
In the midst of a political and security crisis, the Minister of Justice, Rockefeller Vincent, was also dismissed a few weeks earlier, after trying to regain control over the Haitian National Police (PNH) and restore order within it. police force.
“In this environment, you can imagine how the examining magistrate in charge of the investigation into the assassination of the president must feel very lonely and abandoned by the rest of the world, summarizes Philippe Larochelle. He is well intentioned, but this is not enough in a country like Haiti, where he finds himself at the mercy of the political currents that animate the executive ”.
Problematic silence
According to him, the silence of the international community is becoming more and more problematic since it sends the message to the sponsors of this murder, that the assassination of a president in office in Haiti can go unpunished.
“Canada has invested millions of dollars in the past few years to strengthen the justice system and the rule of law in this country, now it has an opportunity to seize to ensure that this work and these investments have not been made for nothing, ”he adds, qualifying Canadian diplomacy as“ silent ”on the murder of Mr. Moïse. “Shouldn’t Canada act as a leader and try to rally the international community to set up an international commission of inquiry and ensure that support is given to Haitian justice? », Asks Mr. Larochelle.
This week, the Minister of Global Affairs of Canada indicated that it continued to “encourage the Haitian authorities to examine the circumstances surrounding the assassination of President Moïse and to bring the perpetrators of this crime to justice”, summed up in an interview to To have to Grantly Franklin, one of his spokespersons, while justifying Canadian inertia by the fact that the country had not “received a formal request from the Haitian authorities to support them in this affair”.
Canada currently has an overall annual aid budget of approximately $ 89 million dedicated to the Pearl of the Antilles. However, Ottawa says today “flexible and ready to work jointly with Haiti and the international community for the development of a more stable, democratic and prosperous future” in this country, he added.