A/HRC/4/3
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imprison - or keep in prison - any individuals awaiting trial who do not have the means to
buy their freedom […]. In the corridors of our district courts, our prosecutor’s offices
and our investigation services, arrest warrants or detention orders are sold to the highest
bidder and, what is worse, in the name of the Republic.”
12.
In the fourth incident that the independent expert wishes to mention, a significant number
of the judges of the Port-au-Prince judicial district have begun a strike, which will be fully lifted
only on 11 January 2007.
13.
The fifth incident occurred during the night of 6/7 January 2007, when unidentified
individuals ransacked the offices of the Port-au-Prince prosecutor. Important case files and
incriminating evidence, including weapons, are said to have disappeared. On 10 January, the
Minister of Justice, accompanied by the Secretary of State for Public Security and the
Director-General of the Haitian National Police, visited - without warning, it seems - the
prosecutor’s offices, including the office of the Government Commissioner and, following this
visit, questioned the burglary theory put forward by the Public Prosecutor and his deputies and
announced that an inquiry would be opened. This announcement elicited a vehement reaction
from the Government Commissioner, who maintained that the Minister was not competent to
carry out such investigations, as the matter did not come under his jurisdiction, and declared that
he could no longer cooperate with the Minister. On the same day, the Government
Commissioner called for the Minister of Justice to be relieved of his duties and commenced
investigations against the person or persons - yet unknown - responsible for the aforementioned
burglary. An investigating judge is due to be appointed in the near future.
14.
This regrettable crisis demonstrates the urgent need to take the initiative to restore
dialogue between these two institutions. In an effort to ease tensions, there are plans to hold a
round table (first bringing together non-senior judges and police officers to cool down the
debate), which could be organized under the auspices of the Judicial Training College on, for
example, specific and complementary responsibilities of the police force and the judicial system
in applying the law. The Minister approved this proposal, which was put forward by the Justice
Section of MINUSTAH, and a meeting is scheduled to take place mid-February, when the
Judicial Training College reopens.
15.
Basically, this crisis demonstrates the urgent need - if further demonstration was
necessary - for Parliament to adopt the bill on judiciary regulations and the bill creating the
Supreme Council of the Judiciary, which, on “neutral ground”, could have helped to defuse the
situation or even begin a dialogue with a view to ending the crisis with the National Police High
Council (for details of the reform of the Supreme Council of the Judiciary, see paras. 66-71
below).
B. The persistence of numerous shortcomings in the police force,
the judiciary and the prison system
1. Shortcomings in the police force and the judiciary
16.
A reading of the list given below makes it clear that the training of police officers and
members of the judiciary and establishing inspectorates capable of imposing their authority
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