The order issued in July by Judge Jean Wilner Morin raises hope in victims and their attorneys, who say they remain cautious given the country’s failing justice system
A Haitian court order issued in July by Judge Jean-Wilner Morin referred some 30 people to criminal court – including two former state officials – charged in the sinister La Saline Massacre.
Contacted by AyiboPost, two of the victims and one of their attorneys say they remain hopeful of obtaining justice but remain skeptical given the deficiencies of the Haitian judicial system.
Following the tragedy, the National Network for the Defense of Human Rights (RNDDH) counted more than 70 people killed, a dozen sexual assaults, and homes riddled with bullets and incinerated by bandits.
One of the victims told AyiboPost that she was brutally beaten and raped by the bandits.
The criminals did not stop there. They murdered her father, her spouse with whom she had 2 children, as well as her 16-year-old younger brother on the night of November 12 to 13, 2018.
At 28, she says she is waiting for justice to be done so that she can mourn her slain relatives.
The former policeman turned gang leader, Jimmy « Barbecue » Cherizier, Fednel Monchery, the former director of the Ministry of Interior and Territorial Communities (MICT) and Joseph Pierre Richard Duplan, former departmental delegate of the West, have been referred to the criminal court in this case.
Several people questioned by the judge said they saw Fednel Monchery, Joseph Pierre Richard Duplan and Jimmy Cherizier, accompanied by armed men, distributing boxes the content of which were unknown to them, on October 3, 2018, in the vicinity of Wharf Jérémie.
According to the judge’s conclusions, this was orchestrated by armed individuals with the aim of carrying out this massacre for political motives during the presidency of the late Jovenel Moïse.
These atrocities took place against a backdrop of clashes between rival gangs for control of the Croix des Bossales market, with the aim of repressing anti-government protests.
The main charges include illegal possession of firearms, murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, arson, kidnapping, false imprisonment and criminal association.
At times, the lady interviewed by AyiboPost recognizes some of her attackers out on the street. « I feel a mad rage to take revenge in these moments. But it’s not possible. I am waiting for justice, » she confided during a meeting at the RNDDH offices.
Attorney Sonel Jean-François, through his firm François et associés, is supporting about 20 victims of the massacre in court.
I feel a mad rage to take revenge in these moments. But it’s not possible. I am waiting for justice.
Dozens of others have filed complaints with the investigating cabinet and the prosecutor’s office.
« It’s been a long road, [but the ordinance represents] a step in the right direction, » Jean-François told AyiboPost.
Jean-François denounces the habitual slowness that characterizes the Haitian justice system, but hopes that it will be impartial in this instance, so that all the guilty parties can be punished for their crimes.
Due to expire in 2021, the mandate of Judge Chavannes Etienne, the first judge in charge of investigating the case, has not been renewed by the executive.
The Professional Association of Magistrates (APM) considered this dismissal – which concerned two other judges who were working on cases involving people close to the government – to be a violation of the separation of powers established by the Haitian Constitution.
When his term of office was renewed in 2022, the investigating judge Jean-Wilner Morin took charge of the La Saline case.
In May 2023, the judge in charge of several other important corruption cases saw their car attacked by armed individuals on the Route de Frères.
Several people questioned by the judge said they saw Fednel Monchery, Joseph Pierre Richard Dupland, and Jimmy Cherizier, accompanied by armed men, distributing boxes the contents of which were unknown to them, on October 3, 2018, in the vicinity of Wharf Jérémie.
In 2020, Jimmy Chérizier, Joseph Pierre Richard Duplan, and Fednel Monchéry were sanctioned by the United States Treasury Department for their alleged involvement in the massacre.
Subject to an arrest warrant issued by the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police (DCPJ), Monchéry was arrested and then released in February 2021.
Two of the police officers who arrested him told AyiboPost that they fled the country under threat, fearing for their safety.
Read also: Testimonies, investigations… understanding the massacres that occurred in La Saline
The road to a trial in this case will be long.
The investigating judge ordered that all of the documents in the preparatory file, together with the order, be forwarded to the government commissioner for legal action.
Once addressed to the Public Prosecutor’s Office by the investigating judge, the government commissioner has one day to appeal against the order.
This is a 10 day period for the accused and the civil party.
« For the moment, we don’t yet know if there have been any appeals, » Sonel Jean-François explains to AyiboPost.
The defendants, according to the judge, should be « arrested and incarcerated in prison if they are not already there. »
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During the massacre, the criminals raped a 26-year-old woman.
Since then, the mother of a nine-year-old boy has struggled to make ends meet, facing socio-economic hardship and stigma.
She and her son have known some dark days, but the young woman maintains that she has a burning thirst for justice.
« It hurts a lot when people remind me of the fact that I was raped to insult me, » she complains, staring into space with a lump in her throat during an interview with AyiboPost.
Although skeptical about the Haitian justice’s willingness to punish the guilty, she affirms her unwavering determination to continue fighting.
« If the justice of men isn’t carried out, I will rely on that of God. It never fails, » she concludes.
Cover image: In 2015, the La Saline gang was dismantled in an operation led by MINUSTAH and the PNH. | UNPOL – UN/MINUSTAH
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