By Kevin Pina of Haiti Information Project (HIP)

The United Nations has been sitting on evidence that implicates a powerful
Haitian senator in the assassination of a popular priest in 1994. The only
known video testimony of an eyewitness to the brutal killing of Father
Jean-Marie Vincent was recorded by a UN official in 2005 and has not seen
the light of day since. HIP recently received a copy of the video in an
anonymous package that included a note stating: “The UN has no interest in
pursuing this case or revealing this evidence despite the statements of this
eyewitness that Youri Latortue was the triggerman that shot and killed
Father Jean-Marie Vincent on August 28, 1994.” The note concluded, “It is a
travesty of justice that the UN has been withholding this testimony from the
public. They are supposed to be impartial but Latortue has powerful friends
in the US Embassy who view him as an asset since his role following the
ouster of Aristide in 2004.”

In the video testimony, the eyewitness is interrogated by a UN official and
explains why she was falsely arrested in 2004 and shuttled from prison to
prison until discovered by the same official. The witness also explains that
she lived in the United States on and off for several years, which is why
she preferred to provide the testimony in English.

The witness tells how the Haitian police were holding her for Latortue until
he could figure how to “get rid of me.” When asked why she feared Latortue
she responds “because the 28th of August 1994, I witnessed Youri Latortue
murder the priest by the name of Jean-Marie Vincent.” She follows with a
recounting of the incident and details of the murder. The Haiti Information
Project (HIP) has released an excerpt from the video testimony where the
image and voice have been digitally altered to protect the identity of the
witness (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JXHzfn28UA).

Youri Latortue is a blood relative and former security chief of the
US-installed Prime Minister Gerard Latortue who took control of Haiti in
2004 following the coup that ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Elected in 2006, Senator Latortue has most recently been serving as the
powerful head of the Haitian parliament’s Justice and Security Commission.

According to Haitian law, senators enjoy immunity from prosecution for
crimes and are not required to testify unless a senator himself or herself
waives their immunity, or the Senate votes to lift it. Latortue’s
parliamentary immunity is due to expire with the swearing in of the next
parliament following elections scheduled for Nov. 28 in Haiti.

Many Haitians suspected that Latortue ran for office in 2006 for the
expressed purpose of claiming immunity from prosecution given previous
allegations made against him of human right abuses following Aristide’s
ouster. A Freedom House report on Haiti released May 3, 2010 stated “a
number of lawmakers elected in 2006 have reportedly been involved in
criminal activities, and they sought parliament seats primarily to obtain
immunity from prosecution.”

Father Jean-Marie Vincent was fatally shot at point-blank range in front of
his rectory at Montfortain in the Port au Prince neighborhood of Christ-Roi
on Aug. 28, 1994. At the time of Vincent’s assassination, then Lt. Youri
Latortue was a leading member of the Anti-Gang Unit of the Haitian army.
Witnesses at the time described two vehicles carrying members of the unit as
those responsible for opening fire on Vincent’s vehicle.

A report released by a delegation of the Center for the Study of Human
Rights in 2004 stated “a former high-ranking police official from the USGPN
(palace security), Edouard Guerriere… claims that Youri Latortue
participated in the 1994 murder of catholic priest Jean-Marie Vincent (as
did eyewitnesses in 1995), and that he assisted in the 1993 murder of
democracy activist Antoine Izméry. From 1991 to 1993, Latortue was an
officer in FADH’s [Haitian army] Anti-Gang Unit, the army’s most notorious
unit for human rights violations.”

The video testimony reportedly suppressed by the UN would represent the
first time an actual eyewitness to Vincent’s assassination has stepped
forward to identify Senator Youri Latortue as the man that pulled the
trigger.

AUDIO TRANSCRIPT OF WITNESS TO YOURI LATORTUE’S KILLING OF FATHER JEAN-MARIE
VINCENT
[Names have been removed to protect the witness's identity- HL]

WITNESS: Then, Richard (name removed) said, you know something, I’m gonna
call a friend and they’re gonna come and see you because from the
information I’ve got, they want to kill you.

But I saw Youri Latortue going back and forth on the staircase [at the
police station] in Pétionville so that’s when I said…it clicked. I said oh
my God. I’m being set up.

UN OFFICIAL: So while you were in Pétionville you saw Youri walking around?

WITNESS: Not walking around, going up and down the staircase from the
Commissioner’s down to where I was. But he didn’t come towards me. When I
saw him, that’s when things clicked. I said, okay, that’s it… I know why I
am here.

UN OFFICIAL: Now let me ask you about that. Why would Youri have something
against you? Why would you want to be….

WITNESS: Because the 28th of August 1994, I witnessed Youri Latortue murder
the priest by the name of Jean-Marie Vincent.

UN OFFICIAL: Where did you see this?

WITNESS: In Christ Roi by Turgeau.

UN OFFICIAL: And was this on the side of the road? A restaurant?

WITNESS: No. He was getting into the place where he lives. The priest was
getting into the gate.

UN OFFICIAL: What? He got out of vehicle to open to the gate?

WITNESS: No, they were opening the gate for him

UN Official: Uh huh.

WITNESS: That’s when I saw a pickup… a double white pickup with a bunch of
men in black. And uh…I saw Youri. The reason why I remember Youri…. I
don’t remember the other ones. But the reason why I remember Youri because
he used to come to (name removed) house. And I saw him getting out of the
car and shooting at the car. But at that time, I didn’t know he was a
priest, the man they were shooting at. I didn’t know he was a priest. And I
didn’t know the person who was in that car.

UN OFFICIAL: Right

WITNESS: It’s when I went back to my uncle’s house and I was explaining what
I witnessed. Then I found out when he said “you know (unintelligible) who
they shot?” I said: “Who they shot?” He said, “Jean-Marie Vincent.” I said:
“Who is Jean-Marie Vincent?” He said: “It’s a priest.”

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