AHP

The Committee for the Defense of the Haitian People expresses profound concern at the disappearance on August 12 of the founder of the September 30 Foundation, Lovensky Pierre Antoine. According to several sources, the human rights activist was intercepted as he was returning home after working with an international human rights delegation that had come from North America to look into the overall situation of the country and the human rights situation in particular, said Ronald Saint Jean. He also indicated that the car in which Mr. Pierre Antoine was driving was found by the police in Delmas 10 in the evening of August 13 and is now at the Delmas 3 police sub-station. The day after his disappearance, Lovensky Pierre -Antoine was scheduled to accompany the international human rights delegation to a visit of detainees including René Civil, one of the leaders of the pro-Lavalas JPP movement (Popular Youth Power).

Mr. Pierre -Antoine is well known for his efforts at the head of the September 30 Foundation in support of respect for human rights in Haiti. In recent days his actions have included condemnation of the grave human rights violations committed under the former regime of Gérard Latortue, and he has called upon the current government to free the political prisoners and promote the return of all the political exiles who were forced to leave Haiti on February 29, 2004 and during the days that followed. He has also criticized the foreign presence in Haiti and has taken a position against renewing the mandate of MINUSTAH.

The Committee for the Defense of Haitian Citizens appealed to Haitian and international opinion as well as human rights organizations to insist that a spotlight be directed toward this case and it urged the judicial and police authorities to conduct an investigation as quickly as possible to find Mr. Pierre Antoine in order that he might resume his activities.