Danton Léger can he legally convene Laleau and Lamothe?

The invitation of the government commissioner to the trial court in Port-au-Prince, Mr. Danton Léger, addressed to Laleau Wilson, ex-Minister of Economy and Finance, and Laurent Lamothe, former Haitian Prime Minister for they present to the prosecutor respectively Monday, April 25 and Tuesday 26 April, caused much ink. Meanwhile, a statement by the President of the Republic Jocelerme Privert, made in March, on the waves of Magik 9, weakness comes to the action of the Government Commissioner.

The news came on Thursday 21 April. The former prime minister also former Minister of Planning and External Cooperation, Laurent Lamothe, was invited by the Government Commissioner, Mr. Danton Léger, the prosecution Tuesday, April 26 at 10 am in the morning. The Chief Public Prosecutor of Port-au-Prince wants to audition the former prime minister on his management of PetroCaribe funds as well as the 5 billion gourdes unlocked by his administration following the passage of Hurricane Sandy in October 2012.

Returning to express Africa at the invitation of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Committee of the Senate on Monday, April 18, as part of its investigation into the use of PetroCaribe Fund, Laurent Lamothe lawyers do not hide their amazement and protested vigorously against that prosecutors they described as illegal.

The government commissioner has no legal provisions for convening a former minister or prime minister who was acting within its powers, unless it is seized by a debet stop having acquired authority of a sovereign and res or for a criminal case and even then, in the absence of flagrante delicto, in accordance with Article 37 of the Code of criminal Procedure, this would fall under the jurisdiction of a duly examining magistrate “protest lawyers Laurent Lamothe.

“These gaps in the law and the Constitution by the Government Commissioner can not be tolerated by the current Minister of Justice or by the Prime Minister because these intimidation both illegal, abusive and arbitrary can create a bad precedent “disapprove them interpreting this convocation as political persecution and violation of the most elementary rights of every Haitian citizen.

In a letter addressed to Mr. Danton Léger, this Monday, April 25, 2016, counsel for Wilson Laleau, the Munitio Law Firm, refer to Article 185 of the Constitution to prevent it “confers on the High Court court jurisdiction to try ministers after the indictment by the Chamber of deputies (Article 186 paragraph b); the decision of the High Court of Justice is rendered in the form of decree. “. The lawsuit prosecutors, they continue, can only intervene if the Minister is sentenced by the High Court and if necessary to apply other penalties. “That thus a decision prior to pursuing the prosecution, conviction previously pronounced by the High Court of Justice, compulsory and renders inoperative the invitation of the parquet,” it said in the letter.

For its part, the person did not budge. Mr. Danton Léger recalls to all those who claim that it has neither the authority nor the capacity to summon former senior clerk of the State on their management, he is the head of the prosecution and, as such, it is his duty to put them at the disposal of justice.

Lissade the firm in charge of the defense of Mr. Lamothe, does not hear it that way and uses the amended Constitution of 1987, which, according to him, gives jurisdiction to the High Court of Justice in its Articles 186 and 188 to ask investigative actions and to impeach former ministers and prime ministers for offenses committed in the exercise of their functions.

Tuesday 1 March 2016, speaking on Radio Magik 9 waves, the President of the Republic, Jocelerme Privert, abounded in the same direction: “This should be clear to everyone: the actions of a minister in the exercise its functions make it justiciable before the High Court of justice and not the ordinary courts.”

“It took two years for the Court of Appeals of Gonaïves so an order that Jocelerme Privert, in his capacity as Minister, is not justiciable by-the ordinary courts, therefore the Court of First instance of St. Marc is incompetent to educate against Jocelerme Privert, “he continued, recalling, after being detained for 26 months in the national penitentiary, not only at the time they had no right to educate against him, still less to stop it.

The lawyers made up of Laurent Lamothe sent several letters to Jean Renel Senatus and Cyprien Price, respectively Presidents of Justice and Public Safety Committee of the Senate and House of Representatives. “We will represent our client at the Government Commissioner’s office April 26, 2016 to take note of the exact reason for this dubious call because this formality intrinsic nature, which must be included, is non-existent, especially as the meeting notice n has not been signed by the Government Commissioner as is customary in the legal and judicial universe of Haiti, especially in the case of a former high state official, “they wrote.

different faculties of professors from the State University of Haiti and private universities of the country and civil society members were issued on 23 April, a note of protest and solidarity with Professor Wilson Laleau in which they express their deep concern at the judicial and media lynching campaign orchestrated by the Government Commissioner of Port-au-Prince, Mr. Danton Léger, against certain personalities of the country, particularly the former minister Laleau.

“We, the undersigned, condemn the arbitrary and illegal nature of the measure which infringes the honor and reputation of Professor Laleau and, by extension, members of his family, colleagues and collaborators,” castigates the note which is signed, among others, Ricot Pierre Louis professors, Renan Hedouville Wesner and Desire.

Furthermore, in September 2011, Me Sonel Jean-François, the Government Commissioner of Port-au-Prince, was laid off for having summoned the Minister of the Interior and Territorial Communities, Paul Antoine Bien-Aimé. “In deciding to indict the minister of the Interior and Territorial Communities, Paul Antoine Bien-Aimé, for acts performed in the exercise of its functions, you deliberately committed a serious violation of the Article 186, paragraph 2, of the Constitution, such jurisdiction back to the Chamber of deputies, “had written the outgoing Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive, accusing the commissioner of” serious violation “of the Constitution.