Haiti

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During this period, relations with the president of the republic, Michel Martelly, continue to be very tense. The head of state never misses an opportunity to attack the media. On December 28, during a visit to Mirebalais, a department in the center of Haiti, Martelly praised a young man with a placard that read “Press, give the president a chance.” Martelly said sarcasticalljy that the young man deserved $100,000 American. On January 18, 2012, Maxime Alcius, the driver for journalist Anthony Lapeyre of Radio Metropole, died from an attack with weapons perpetrated by some bandits while they were riding along the road from the old Boenfield airport. The journalist was unharmed. On February 3, President Martelly, before traveling to Venezuela, refused to answer a question from a journalist from Radio Kiskeya. A short time later, in a reaction to a question from a reporter for Radio Melodie FM on incidents that had occurred at the residence of the prime minister, Martelly made it clear that he would have preferred questions about his work. On February 7, the weekly Haiti Observateur revealed a meeting held in the presidential palace and presided over by the first lady, Sophia Martelly, to discuss with certain ministers a plan to control the press. On March 5, the director of Radio Boukman, Jean Liphete Nelson, was killed by gunshot in Cité Soleil. Nelson, 38, was traveling with four other persons in a vehicle from the radio station through the Bois Neuf de Cité Soleil neighborhood when the attack from four heavily-armed individuals occurred. His younger brother, Jean Robert Nelson, was hit with a bullet to his leg. After being taken to a hospital run by the organization Doctors without Borders, Jean Liphete Nelson perished from his wounds. On April 3, exactly twelve lyears had passed since the murder of Jean Léopold Dominique, a crime that remains unpunished. The well-know and respected journalist and leader of Radio Haiti Inter was killed on April 3, 2000 at the front of the station. In the attack, the security guard Jean-Claude Louissaint was also murdered. In twelve years, nine judges have handled the investigations without finding those responsible for the crime. The investigation of the murders has been affected by violence, inactivity, threats made to the judge, delays, and the loss of all evidence and files during the earthquate. The journalist’s wife, Michèle Montas, was the victim of an attempt on her life in December 2002. In February 2005, the only three persons accused of the murder of Jean Dominique and Jean-Claude Louissaint escaped from prison during a mutiny. A new investigation under judge Yvickel Dabrésil, still open, on the murders of Jean Dominique land Jean-Claude Louissaint was initiated on April 3, 2005.

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