Haiti Insight Volume 8, No. 1

Eruption in Mirebalais:
Two Killed, Including HNP Chief

By Ismene Zarifis, Port-au-Prince

Rising tensions between the Haitian National Police and a popular organization in Mirebalais flared last Feb. 5 and the ensuing violence led to the sacking of the Mirebalais police station, a prison break, a strong show of force by the HNP, and the death of two people, including the city's police chief, Ricelin Dorneus.

"Dorneus was the 41st policeman we've lost and the first time a police chief was killed on duty," stated Eucher Luc Joseph, Inspector General of the HNP.

According to a NCHR investigation and press reports, the violence was sparked by an argument on Feb. 5 between Dorneus and members of an organization named Mete Lod Nan Dezod (Put Order into Disorder or MLD), who were reportedly working as security guards at a construction site in Mirebalais, a city of about 50,000 people in the Central Plateau region. It has not been determined what the disagreement was about. After Dorneus, 31, left the work area, sources told NCHR a number of MLD members, who were riding in a truck, insulted Dorneus as he stood on the side of a road questioning an underage driver. Dorneus reportedly left the scene and obtained arrest warrants for three MLD members who were riding in the lorry.

From Bad to a Nightmare

At approximately 4:30 PM on Feb. 5, Dorneus arrested and detained two MLD members. While Dorneus and an estimated seven other HNP officers remained inside the precinct, MLD members led by Jean Fanfan Ti Bwa Degrotte and family members of the detainees assembled outside the station. Some in the crowd carried machetes and stones.

According to official reports, Dorneus called his superior, Departmental Director of the Central Plateau Nesly Phele, for reinforcements. Phele was unable to provide immediate help and advised Dorneus that in order to calm the crowd, he should release the detainees.

Vastly outnumbered, Dorneus and the other HNP officers reportedly attempted to disperse the crowd by firing warning shots. During these chaotic moments, Jean Paul Merisier was shot and killed. Fantal Aurelien, one of the individuals named in the arrest warrants, was shot in the leg. It has been widely reported that both victims were hit by stray bullets.

Merisier's death ignited an already unruly crowd. Dorneus released the two prisoners, but at approximately 7 PM alleged MLD supporters forced their way into the police compound, seized Dorneus, and began stoning him. He was then hacked to death.  During the frenzy, alleged MLD supporters burned two HNP vehicles and one prison authority truck, and broke into the jail. All 76 prisoners escaped. Still in a state of shock three days later, deputy police chief Fritz-Gerald Muscadin, 26, described to the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times how he had watched helplessly as the stoning began. "They told me if I resisted they would cut off my head...One man had a machete and the others took turns to throw rocks. It went on for 20 minutes."

CIMO Deployed

                CIMO Deployed in Port-au-Prince, 1997.  Photo Credit: Chantal Regnault/Gamma Liason

Hours after the death of Dorneus and Merisier, 40 members of the heavily armed crowd control unit (Intervention and Maintenance of Order Company, or CIMO), 30 officers from the HNP SWAT team, 30 cops from HNP command headquarters, and members of the local CIMO team based in the departmental capital of Hinche were deployed to Mirebalais, according to Secretary of State for Public Security Robert Manuel. Manuel said the specialized units were ordered to search for suspects who murdered Dorneus, reinforce the police station, and secure the municipality.

HNP officials say the main suspects in the Dorneus investigation are doyen (judicial dean) Prosper Theisme, who is suspected by the authorities of being associated with MLD, Jean Robert Dubuisson, the federal prosecutor of Mirebalais, and (Daniel: put "Fanfan Ti Bwa" in italics) Fanfan Ti Bwa Degrotte.

Dubuisson was apprehended in Mirebalais on Feb. 19 and charged with the murder of Dorneus. Dubuisson protested his arrest and declared when he was detained the HNP did not follow correct legal procedures. After being transferred to the National Penitentiary, Dubuisson was released on March 9 when a (Daniel: put doyen in italics) doyen ruled there was insufficient evidence to hold him in prison. Theisme and Degrotte remain fugitives.

Charges of Illegal Arrests and Torture

There have been serious charges levied against CIMO that some of the searches in Mirebalais were conducted with excessive force, including beatings. Most of the elite HNP units were deployed to the city for approximately two weeks.

Simon Belony -- who confessed to having been present when Dorneus was killed -- was allegedly brought to the Mirebalais precinct "beaten and forced to eat" dirt that was stained with Dorneus's blood, according to Deputy Emmanuel Derilus (Anti-Neoliberal Party-Petit Riviere), a member of parliament's lower house, the Chamber of Deputies. Derilus was a member of a congressional delegation that went to Mirebalais to investigate the violence.

"We were informed that the police beat them a lot, on the head, chest, face, back, and waist. Some suffered from internal bleeding," stated Derilus, referring to suspects who were interrogated by the HNP. "If you go to the prison, you will see the blood stains."

On Feb. 7, several Port-au-Prince radio stations carried live interviews from Mirebalais. Reports on Radio Metropole stated that police had searched the house of (Daniel: put "doyen" in italics) doyen Theisme. Although Theisme was not present at the time, the Metropole report stated that police beat the individual they found in the home.

"From what we can gather, the Mirebalais police station was reportedly one of the best run and Dorneus seemed to have tried to do a fairly decent job. But the fact that he or his force reacted the way they did is a stain on the HNP. That the crowd control units used heavy handed tactics to re-establish control in Mirebalais should be criticized," said NCHR Executive Director Jocelyn McCalla. "But the mob's reaction, however, went far beyond protesting against the HNP. They allegedly committed murder and created disorder, including the release from prison of several criminals."

Deputy Louis Esteven (Independent-Central Plateau), part of the Derilus delegation, has charged that the majority of the arrests in the Dorneus investigation were illegal, including arrests made without proper warrants or a justice of the peace present. The delegation also charged justices of the peace were asked to sign and authorize warrants after the arrests were made. The HNP, however, flatly denies these charges.

"There was no cases of systematic torture or repression" during the searches at Mirebalais, said Inspector General Joseph. "The Director General and the Secretary of State for Public Security went on site personally to make sure" that these incidents would not occur. Joseph said the HNP has opened a general investigation into the events of Feb. 5., including examining complaints of human rights abuses.

In another development, heavily armed CIMO and SWAT officers have been deployed throughout Port-au-Prince as of March 5. HNP spokesperson Felder Jean Baptiste told Reuters the deployment is part of a new HNP crackdown on violent crime. "This is nothing political, the police stations have simply been reorganized to respond to crime," he said.

Zarifis is a NCHR research associate.

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