Rudolph H. Boulos
8 Rue Bourbon, Ouanaminthe, Haïti
April 3, 2008
Mr. Benoît Hervieu.
Reporteurs sans FrontiPres
I read with great interest your press release on the calamitous issue of the murder of the journalist Jean Leopold Dominique. I feel constrained to make some corrections in the references you made to me in this document, if only to help you better understand the complexities of this case’s development.
As a Haitian senator, I have always answered the questions of the investigating magistrate in this caseand have afforded him every opportunity to obtain needed clarifications. On two occasions we agreed on a meeting time. He did not show up either time. Through my lawyers he sent me a list of handwritten questions, to which I responded fully.
In your communique you mention that Mr. Dominique shortly before his murder spoke on the air about a medication produced by the Pharval laboratories that caused the death of a hundred children in 1996. For my part, I can tell you that hundreds of journalists, government ministers, and the president of Haiti himself also expressed themselves on the Pharval issue at the time. These repeated interventions did not result in the murder of anyone. The radio broadcasts of Mr. Dominique would also provide no motive for an act as repulsive as his murder.
In your communique, you mention that Mr. Harold Severe, “now in self-imposed exile,” had been arrested as one of the “suspected instigators of the murder.” For my part, I can tell you that Mr. Severe was an employee of the National Palace at the time of the murder of Mr. Dominique. I can add the declarations of Mr. Guy Philippe, questioned in September 2000 on the Jean Dominique affair. To the question of Mr. Leo Reyes, a Dominican journalist of the newspaper El Nacional, “Who killed Jean Dominique?” he replied, “Only the government in Haiti has the capacity to assassinate.”
Sir, I understand and support your desire to shed light on this murder. I understand the will of the citizens of Haiti, which I share even more fully as a senator who has recently been the victim of a political lynching with unforeseeable consequences. I ask you not to associate with mercenaries who would effectively murder Mr. Dominique a second time over by utilizing his corpse against those who work, as he did, in the interest of the Haitian people.
I would be grateful if you would publish these corrections on your website and, even more, take them into account as you continue your struggle.