By: Atty Evel Fanfan, President AUMOHD

Mr. Pierre Jean Saint Luc, defender of human rights, member of the Community Human Rights Council of Croix-Des-Bouquets (CHRC-CDB), home owner, residing in Croix-des-Bouquets, duly possessing a Haitian I.D. has the honor of explaining to you,

that on Thursday, January 10, 2008, he was arrested without a warrant and not in the act of committing a crime as he was accompanying members of the CHRC of which he is a member to go to the court following an invitation from the District Attorney, Aldrin Joassaint;

that this arrest followed by an arbitrary, illegal and abusive detention violates Articles 24,24.2,25,26,26.1, 26.2 of the Constitution of March 29, 1987 currently in force; that this totalitarian act is a flagrant violation on the one hand of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in articles 3,8.9.10 and 11 and on the other hand of the American Pact of Human rights voted on and ratified by Haïti, and finally of the International Pact of Civil and Political Rights in articles 6,9, and 11;

that notwithstanding a delegation of AUMOHD to the court requesting the District Attorney to take the legal route by freeing the victim, Mr. Pierre Jean Saint Luc, defender of human rights of a high quality, because according to the reading of Article 80 of the Haitian Criminal Code and Arrest by the Appeals Court of January 20, 1945, the right to issue an arrest against a citizen by a District Attorney is only allowed in the exceptional case of a crime actually being committed;

that on January 12, 2008, the Justice of the Peace of Croix-des-Bouquets, Atty. Ronald Milford, attested in a written statement that he saw and judged as arbitrary and illegal the incarceration of Mr. Pierre Jean Saint LUC; that on January 14, 2008 the Dean of the Local Court of Croix-des-Bouquets, the judge and guarantor of individual freedom, Atty. Edzer Aristide, was served with a Habeas Corpus action and also the chief District Attorney, Atty. Alix Civil, was called by the court clerk to appear before the Dean, Judge and guarantor of individual freedom in its special and constitutional aspects;

that therefore on January 16, 2008, the local court of Croix-des-Bouquets, duly gathered in the courthouse in the center city with Judge Edzer Aristide and court clerk, Yvelt Petit Blanc on the one hand along with District Attorney Alix Civil as well as the counsel for the defense, Attorneys Evel Fanfan, Paul Lamothe and Jean Gamael Dieudonne, rendered a judgment whose content is as follows:

"For these reasons and concerns and on the conclusions of the Public Ministry, the Tribunal has accepted the writ of Habeas Corpus of Attorneys Evel Fanfan, Paul Lamothe, Jean Gamael Dieudonne against the District Attorney and says and so declares that the arrest of Mr. Pierre Jean Saint Luc was not carried out according to the norms envisioned by the law of the Republic of Haiti and is therefore declared illegal and arbitrary and that the immediate release without condition of Mr. Pierre Jean Saint Luc from the National Penitentiary is hereby ordered;

that according to the words of Article 85 of the Haitian Penal Code, annotated by Menan Pierre Louis page 26, which stipulates: when a public official, an agent or a government representative shall have ordered or committed some arbitrary or prejudicial acts, either regarding the liberty of an individual or the constitution, he shall be condemned to dismissal;

that according to the words of article 289 of the Haitian Penal Code (Annotated by Atty. Menan Pierre Louis, page e72,) which stipulates: those will be punished with imprisonment from one to five years who, outside of the law orders the detention of anyone;

that the Constitution of March 29, 1987 in articles 27 and 27.1 stipulates that all violations relative to individual freedom are arbitrary and illegal acts.

For more information visit the AUMOHD/HURAH website.