On April 3, 2000, armed men cowardly murdered the Director General of Haiti Inter radio, the journalist Jean Léopold DOMINIQUE and the station guard, Mr. Jean-Claude LOUISSAINT. 23 years later, where are we with this file? The assassins and the sponsors are still not identified by justice. No one has been tried for this double crime. There is total impunity in this case as in many others. How many of these assassins have become the great clerks of the state? How many were those who were murdered to prevent light from being shed on this premeditated double crime of April 3, 2000? The observation is clear, the criminals have become even more numerous, more cruel, more arrogant and constantly threaten the safety of all.
Haiti has known these 23 years of impunity by recording crimes, some more heinous than others. Other journalists and press workers have followed Jean Léopold DOMINIQUE and Jean-Claude LOUISSAINT in this dark list of victims of assassinations without justice being done. Judges and prosecutors have never assumed their responsibility to deliver justice to litigants. Impunity reigns supreme and constantly fuels crime and violence of all kinds in the country. Citizens are desperate. Fundamental rights are trampled under foot and public freedoms are confiscated by armed groups with the tacit complicity of the de facto government for 21 months, as well as the complicity of certain judicial authorities.
The judiciary is taken hostage by powerful politicians and economics and mafia of all kinds. They make justice a space for illicit enrichment, corruption and the settling of accounts for personal and political matters.
On the occasion of the 23rd year marking the murder of Jean Léopold DOMINIQUE and Jean-Claude LOUISSAINT, the Defenders Plus collective continues to demand justice for these two victims and all the others caused by organized crime. He calls for a general mobilization for the reform and independence of justice in Haiti. Justice must be a public service accessible to citizens in all parts of the country. The level of crime experienced by the country in 2023 also deserves citizen mobilization to change political data in favor of a democratic society that respects human rights. A society where people are free to carry out their work and contribute to strengthening the democratic process and the development of the country.

Done in Port-au-Prince, April 3, 2023

Antonal MORTIME, Av.
Co-Director