US Court Rules Against Ex-Haitian Mayor for $15M

Facts

• A US District Court in Boston, Mass. ruled on Tuesday that former Haitian mayor Jean Morose Viliena must pay more than $15.5M in damages for waging a campaign against political opponents that included a killing, attempted murder, and torture.¹
• The jury ruled in favor of a 2017 civil lawsuit filed against Viliena by David Boniface, Juders Ysemé, and Nissage Martyr, alleging that he and his political allies were persecuting them or their relatives. Martyr died after the filing and was replaced by his son Nissandere Martyr as a plaintiff.²
• The former mayor of the small Haitian town of Les Irois was accused of leading a group of armed men who shot Boniface's younger brother in his absence in 2007 as part of a political persecution campaign and assaulted Ysemé and Nissage Martyr in 2008, causing Ysemé to go blind in one eye and Martyr to lose a leg.³
• Viliena, a candidate for the Haitian Democracy and Reform Movement, was also sued for allegedly orchestrating the 2009 burning of dozens of homes of his political opponents, but the jury acquitted him of arson charges.⁴
• Prior to the verdict, Viliena's lawyer had questioned the witnesses' credibility, denying that his client was responsible for any acts of violence and that Viliena had worked to improve services such as better infrastructure and access to health care during his tenure.⁵
• Viliena, who is a legal US resident living in Malden, Mass., was sued under the 1991 Torture Victim Protection Act, which allows civil suits to be filed in the US against foreign officials accused of committing crimes in their home country when all domestic legal options have been explored.³

Sources: ¹Al Jazeera, ²Associated Press, ³California News, ⁴ Washington Post, and ⁵WBUR News.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Guardian. The ruling is both a relief for the plaintiffs and a sobering reminder of the lawlessness that has long prevailed in Haiti, with its notoriously weak and dysfunctional rule of law. Add to this the rampant gang violence, with hundreds of deaths this year alone, which has further exacerbated an already dire humanitarian crisis. It's time for the international community to intervene to protect Haiti from itself.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Liberation News. While the ruling is a stark reminder of the lawlessness that prevails in Haiti, the fact that the Caribbean island has never had a real chance to develop as a sovereign nation since the 1804 revolution is readily ignored. It is the West that has always interfered in Haiti's internal affairs and destabilized the country in order to determine its fate. Only as a truly independent nation will Haiti be able to protect its own citizens.