CONTACT:      Ateqah Khaki, Riptide Communications 212-260-5000
                          Jen Nessel, CCR, 212-614-6449, jnessel@ccrjustice.org

NOTORIOUS HAITIAN DEATH SQUAD LEADER TO STAND TRIAL FOR MORTGAGE FRAUD IN NEW YORK

Activists Rally Outside State Supreme Court  on First Day of Trial for Emmanuel “Toto” Constant

CCR Seeks Justice for All of Constant’s Victims

Brooklyn, NY, July 8, 2008 – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and the International Support Haiti Network (ISHN), joined by representatives of Haitian human rights groups KAKOLA (the Haitian Coalition to Support the Struggle in Haiti) and Lavalas, rallied outside of New York’s Supreme Court on the first day of Haitian former paramilitary leader Emmanuel “Toto” Constant’s trial for grand larceny and mortgage fraud.  They are calling for Constant to be held accountable for crimes both here and in Haiti.

According to the U.S. State Department’s own reports, as the leader of the paramilitary group, Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti (FRAPH), Constant was responsible for the murder and rape and other torture of thousands of Haitians from 1991-1994.

Activists say that while Constant’s trial for mortgage fraud is not directly linked to his sordid history as a human rights abuser, the trial is an opportunity for Constant to be held accountable for at least some of his crimes. Last spring, after receiving information from Haitian and U.S. human rights attorneys and activists about Constant’s violent leadership of FRAPH, the judge presiding in this case set aside a plea bargain deal over the objections of the Department of Homeland Security, which was urging Constant’s immediate deportation to Haiti.

“Not only is Toto Constant a serial human rights abuser, but apparently he steals from people as well,” said CCR Senior Attorney Jennie Green. “It is our hope that this trial exposes his economic crimes against the people of New York, and that he faces a serious penalty that takes his crimes against the people of Haiti into account.”

With the instability that currently exists in Haiti due to the latest military coup, which lasted until 2006, activists say it is extremely likely Constant would be able to evade justice once in his home country. In fact, many FRAPH leaders were able to escape justice during the previous military regime.

Constant fled Haiti to the U.S. in 1994 when a Haitian court issued a warrant for his arrest for murder and torture. From 1996 until his arrest for mortgage fraud in 2006, Constant lived freely in Queens, despite international outcry and extradition requests from Haiti for his crimes against humanity.

In 2000, Constant was convicted in abstentia by a Haitian court for having command responsibility over the perpetrators of the infamous 1994 “Raboteau massacre” in which Haitian military and paramilitary troops attacked citizens in the neighborhood of Raboteau in an effort to terrorize residents and repress pro-democracy activism.  

In 2004,  the Center for Constitutional Rights and the Center for Justice and Accountability filed a federal suit in U.S. court against Constant on behalf of three women who survived FRAPH’s campaign of violence against women. The court found Constant liable for torture, including rape; attempted extrajudicial killing; and crimes against humanity. He has been ordered to pay $19 million in damages.

CCR staff will be monitoring the trial and will be available for comment throughout its duration.

For more information on the trial and the civil case, visit www.ccrjustice.org.

The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Founded in 1966 by attorneys who represented civil rights movements in the South, CCR is a non-profit legal and educational organization committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change.