{"id":1417,"date":"2018-01-31T08:03:31","date_gmt":"2018-01-31T13:03:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.ca\/?p=1417"},"modified":"2018-01-31T08:03:31","modified_gmt":"2018-01-31T13:03:31","slug":"editorial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/?p=1417","title":{"rendered":"\u00c9ditorial"},"content":{"rendered":"

Father Joseph Simoly\u2019s\u00a0murder case : Vigilance is in order<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s nearly six weeks since the\u00a0assassination of Father Joseph\u00a0Simoly, the Sunday vicar at the\u00a0Sacred Heart Church in Port-au-Prince. And the case lingers at the Port-au-Prince prosecutor\u2019s office. Traditionally, when the\u00a0judicial authorities try to create con- fusion in a given case, it is indicative
\nof something underhanded at play. Usually, the decision makers count\u00a0on time to pass while public opinion\u00a0goes to sleep. Insofar that those handling the priest\u2019s case are trying to\u00a0keep everything under wrap, the\u00a0nation is dutybound to mobilize to\u00a0prevent the affair from being shelved\u00a0indefinitely. As the prosecutor\u2019s office keeps mum in providing relevant information, the people must be\u00a0vigilant to counter the deceptive officials.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll note that soon after the assassination, there was some manipulation on the part of a Police source. Father Simoly was said to have been\u00a0coming from a bank when he was\u00a0targeted by bandits who took his\u00a0briefcase. That was a deliberate false\u00a0information, indicating that he was\u00a0victim of a heist instead of an execution. Subsequently, the police dis- avowed the original version. Three\u00a0weeks after the crime, the Police had\u00a0a press conference to announce the\u00a0arrest of four individuals who were\u00a0in custody and charged with the murder of the priest. But information\u00a0about the presumed criminals was
\nrather vague. Nothing was revealed\u00a0about a possible sponsor of the salacious crime. Neither the Police nor\u00a0the judicial authorities provided any\u00a0solid information.<\/p>\n

In the face of official obfuscation, the media, began poking around. Indeed, unofficial sources were more\u00a0revealing. The four individuals in\u00a0custody had confessed, even pointing to some leads that helped the Police identify the sponsor of the crime. Nonetheless, there\u2019s no certainty that\u00a0the public will be informed of the\u00a0reasons and circumstances surrounding the assassination of Father\u00a0Simoly.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve learned that the prosecutor\u2019s office in Port-au-Prince has\u00a0been slow in forwarding the case to\u00a0the investigative judge. It\u2019s said that\u00a0in the absence of the president of the\u00a0Republic (on an official trip in\u00a0Rome,) they couldn\u2019t make a move\u00a0without first having his opinion as to\u00a0how to proceed with the case. This\u00a0suggests that the person identified as\u00a0the mastermind of the crime is\u00a0known to Government. Which reminds us of another case, that of Woodley \u00c9th\u00e9ard, nicknamed Sonson Lafamilia, who had escaped\u00a0from jail after being incarcerated for\u00a0kidnapping and murder. His case\u00a0couldn\u2019t go to court because he was\u00a0waiting for the return of former President Michel Martelly, his friend\u00a0and protector, who was on a trip\u00a0abroad. When he came back, Martelly ordered investigative Judge\u00a0Lamare B\u00e9lizaire to clear \u0112th\u00e9ard of\u00a0all suspicion.<\/p>\n

In the case of Father Simoly, we\u2019ve learned from a police source that\u00a0Pierre Jolic\u0153ur has been identified as\u00a0the sponsor of the assassination. Moreover, the source revealed that\u00a0the mastermind had been implicated\u00a0in other serious crimes, including\u00a0kidnapping and assassination. But\u00a0he\u2019s never been questioned or punished for those crimes, because he\u00a0belongs to a category of individuals\u00a0who, in Haiti, are above the law and\u00a0enjoy eternal impunity.<\/p>\n

Certainly, at the height of the kidnappings spree, when criminals of all\u00a0social categories ransomed Haitian\u00a0families, causing bereavement at times, only the criminals from deprived neighborhoods were apprehended\u00a0or summarily executed. Networks of\u00a0kidnappers controlled by rich and\u00a0powerful businessmen usually perpetrate their crimes undisturbed. Thus, most of the crimes committed\u00a0in Haiti aren\u2019t solved. An exception\u00a0to the rule was Clifford Brandt, a\u00a0scion of a well-known bourgeois\u00a0family in Haiti. He was apprehended\u00a0on October 22, 2012, after the kid- napping, on October 16 of the same\u00a0year, Nicolas and Coralie Moscoso. The two were children of the SOGEBANK CEO. In other words, the victims were from a powerful family. On September 13, 2016, Brandt was\u00a0given an 18-year jail sentence. But\u00a0other bandits of his social class still\u00a0roam the streets. To wit, the case of\u00a0Stanley Handal, the alleged kidnapper of G\u00e9n\u00e9lus Nathana\u00ebl, an employee at the Damien branch of UNI- BANK who was abducted August 4, 2005.Arrested inAugust 2005 on the\u00a0basis of a damning report about the\u00a0case from the Central Directorate of\u00a0the Judiciary Police (French acro- nym DCPJ,) he was, nevertheless, released on December 11th of the\u00a0same year by Judge Jean P\u00e9rez Paul. Notwithstanding the courts being \u201con strike\u201d at the time! Meanwhile, G\u00e9n\u00e9us Nathana\u00ebl never returned to\u00a0his family.<\/p>\n

As far as Mr. Jolic\u0153ur is concerned, the judicial authorities keep\u00a0the utmost silence around his name. Were it not for the indiscretion of a\u00a0source close to the National Police\u00a0(French acronym PNH,) his role in\u00a0the assassination of Father Simoly\u00a0never would have been known. After\u00a0all, he evolves within the realm of\u00a0influence of those in power and participates in the spoils with the leaders. Pierre Jolic\u0153ur is well-known in\u00a0the construction industry, particularly as an importer of asphalt. He\u00a0belongs to a special class of individuals who, as is known in Haiti, enrich themselves thanks to their\u00a0relations with the country\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n

Considering how the Haitian judi- cial system is proceeding with the\u00a0case that implicates a powerful citi- zen, it\u2018s legitimate that public opinion be mobilized to shed light on the\u00a0assassination of Father Simoly. All\u00a0those responsible for his murder\u00a0must be identified and brought to\u00a0justice. Understandably, the circum- stances require that we be vigilant.\u00a0It\u2018s the more urgent because signs of\u00a0a conspiracy are detected, as if the\u00a0officials would resort to another case\u00a0of \u201ckase f\u00e8y kouvri sa,\u201d Creole for\u00a0pushing it all under the rug<\/p>\n

\n

 \t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Father Joseph Simoly\u2019s\u00a0murder case : Vigilance is in order It\u2019s nearly six weeks since the\u00a0assassination of Father Joseph\u00a0Simoly, the Sunday vicar at the\u00a0Sacred Heart Church in Port-au-Prince. And the case lingers at the Port-au-Prince prosecutor\u2019s office. Traditionally, when the\u00a0judicial authorities try to create con- fusion in a given case, it is indicative of something underhanded at play. Usually, the decision makers count\u00a0on time to pass while public opinion\u00a0goes to sleep. Insofar that those handling the priest\u2019s case are trying to\u00a0keep everything under wrap, the\u00a0nation is dutybound to mobilize to\u00a0prevent the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1400,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,14],"tags":[448,463,495],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1417"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/haiti-observateur.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}