ARTICLE - ELECTORAL COUNSELORS

ELECTORAL COUNSELORS SAY PROSECUTION IS ILLEGAL
(Defend Haiti) -

PORT-AU-PRINCE – Former electoral counselors protest against the government's decision to ban their departure from Haiti as being illegal.

The Constitution of Haiti, ARTICLE 195, says that only the High Court of Justice may prosecute members of the Permanent Electoral Council. The Constitution does not declare the same protections for members of the Provisional Electoral Council.

But the former president of the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), Gaillot Dorsinvil, and former counselor Ribel Pierre, who could not leave the country Friday and Saturday, criticize the illegal decisions.

Ribel Pierre, who came to the airport Saturday, December 31, 2011, found that his passport was confiscated by an officer of the Immigration Service. He protested against this decision arguing that it is illegal, since the ban was removed by the court in chambers. The former election counselor says he was placed under house arrest since a police patrol was parked outside his residence.

Considering that this is political persecution, Pierre, however, has indicated his willingness to answer questions of justice in Haiti. Mr. Pierre says he didn’t plan to escape justice but to visit relatives abroad.

Same thing for the former head of CEP, Gaillot Dorsinvil, who promised, he would return home Jan. 7, 2012, according to his lawyer.

Attorney Osner Fevry noted that the departure ban has no legal basis. He accused the Interior Minister, Thierry Mayard Paul, to have been the main instigator of the arrest of Mr. Dorsinvil.

Mr. Fevry urges the government to respect judicial decisions as part of efforts to establish the rule of law in Haiti.

Constitution of Haiti

ARTICLE 186:

The House of Deputies, by a majority of two-thirds (2/3) of its members, shall indict: (c) Members of the Permanent Electoral Council and the Superior Court of Auditors and the Court of Administrative Disputes for serious offenses committed in the discharge of their duties;

ARTICLE 195:

In the event of a serious offense committed in the discharge of their duties, the members of the Permanent Electoral Council are liable for prosecution before the High Court of Justice.