ARTICLE - GOV'T COMMISSIONER NOT TALKING

FELIX LEGER, GOVERNMENT COMMISSIONER, IS NOT ANSWERING QUESTIONS
(Defend Haiti) -

PORT-AU-PRINCE - Félix Léger the Government Commissioner who issued the request for the arrest of Deputy Arnel Bélizaire (Delmas & Tabarre/Veye-Yo), was less than forthcoming on Thursday morning to questions posed by radio anchor, Marie Lucie Bonhomme.

Marie Lucie asked Léger if he was still the 'attorney general' or Government Commissioner of Port-au-Prince, to which he responded:

"Yes, up until now."

Beyond this question the government commissioner provided no answers to a series of questions by Mrs. Bonhomme, beyond describing the duties of his position. The questions included:

"There are rumors circulating up until now that a request for your letter of resignation has been requested by the state. Is this true or false?"

"Mr. Leger, you've heard all the critiques made lately, especially about the arrest of Deputy Belizaire and that on his arrival at the national penitentiary you did not have a dossier (list of charges) for him"

"How do you respond to the declaration of the national penitentiary that said that they could not hold Deputy Bélizaire because there are no charges against him?"

"Who is handling the investigation Mr. Leger?"

"Are you still handling the case of Bélizaire?

"There is something that happened that people don't understand the day Bélizaire was arrested. It is true that you wrote the DCPJ to go and arrest Deputy Bélizaire and take him to the national penitentiary. But, at that time, there was information that came into the press that says, the Senator of the Republic, President of the Senate, Rodolph Joazile (Nord-Est/Alternative), that says the deputy was arrested at the airport in Port-au-Prince as he debarked from the plane and he was going to come to a questioning [at the commissioner's office] but when they looked the vehicle [carrying Bélizaire] took a turn towards the national penitentiary. What happened? Who gave these orders? Was it you who told the police to take him to the national penitentiary?"

"But magistrate you understand what is serious, is that after all of the noise that happened with the arrest of Deputy Bélizaire, he arrived at the national penitentiary and there were no formal charges, at all."

"Therefore, Mr. Leger you recognize that you made a serious error in this case?"

"The Minister of Justice held a conference with the press immediately after the incident in which he said that he had nothing to do with it. He did not give you orders to do 'X' or 'Y'. How do you respond to this?"

"Is it true that the minister [justice] asked you to respect the law?"

"There are deputies, like Levaillant Lous-Jeune who says your head must fall. How do you respond to this?"

Commissioner Léger did respond to a question the night before the arrest in which a journalist asked him ... did he consider the fact that Deputy Bélizaire was under parliamentary immunity? To this question, the commissioner responded that the word "immunity" does not appear in the Constitution.

The senate will hold an interpellation of concerned members of the government on Thursday, at 2:00 p.m.