HAITI

There have been no serious attacks on press freedom. However, some journalists have been victims of acts of vandalism in the Port-au-Prince metropolitan area, especially in Pétionville. The news director and star news announcer of Radio Kiskeya, Liliane Pierre-Paul, and the chief editor of the station, Stéphane Pierre-Paul, were robbed by at least two people on September 14 in Pétionville. All of their possessions were taken. In a similar incident, unidentified persons broke into the vehicle of journalist Vario Sérant, news director of Tele Haiti, editor of the online agency Alter Presse, news announcer on Radio Kiskeya and correspondent of Radio France Internationale (RFI) in Haiti. The thieves took a laptop, press card and other important documents belonging to the journalist. The investigation of the murder of Jacques Roche, journalist of Le Matin of Port-au-Prince, in July of 2005 is stalled. The main suspects are in prison and have not gone on trial. Roche was kidnapped on July 10, and his body was found on July 14. The case of Jean Leopold Dominique, director and political commentator on Radio Haiti Inter, who was murdered on April 3, 2000, in Port-au-Prince, still has not been solved and there has been no progress, although the Supreme Court ordered the case reopened in 2004.