Municipal
Haiti: Fmr P-au-P Mayor Receives Subpoena in Market Fire Investigation
- Thursday, June 21, 2012 4:57 PM
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (defend.ht) – The former Mayor of Port-au-Prince, ousted in March by the presidency, received a subpoena from the government prosecutor as part of a criminal investigation into the fire that destroyed the city’s public market on Monday. Council for former Mayor Muscadin Jean Yves Jason said he will not appear due to confusion in the file.
Muscadin’s lawyer, Andre Michel, confirmed receiving the invitation and denounced it as part of a “political persecution” by authorities, that it would make his client a suspect in the investigation.
The letter was received by the party on Tuesday and requested the audience of Yves Jason on 2:30 PM Wednesday. The attorney for the former mayor said his client would not appear due to elements of confusion in the letter.
"Firstly, we attribute this convocation with the Mayor Muscadin Yves Jason as something terrible. A person could not be the former mayor of the capital and now you would accuse of putting fire in a market."
"This is a case of political persecution and it is a campaign of political persecution that aims at one thing to destroy the reputation of Mr. Jason, discredit Mr. Jason who is a former mayor, so that they can further attack him politically..."
"Secondly, right now, they sent the invitation for Muscadin Yves, the gentleman is named Muscadin Jean Yves Jason, there are errors in the identity that they have sent here. I don't yet know if it for Jason they sent it."
"If it is for Jason that they sent it, for what I have said here I am taken back because he has nothing to see, nothing to do, with the market and if it is not for him, then again they must clarify it, because there is a problem with the identity."
"Secondly, it was yesterday we received it and they asked us to appear today at 2:30 at the office of prosecutions... this can not be so. You can not send an invitation to a person and in 24 hours ask them to present themselves."
"For these reasons we ask the office of prosecutions to rectify itself and correct, if it is Muscadin Jean Yves Jason, former mayor of Port-au-Prince, than it is this name they should write, not another name so that there won't be confusion."
"And after this we will give another response but at this time, Mr. Jason will not appear because there is too much confusion in the identity of the person they want to invite, there are too many elements that are not clear."
"So we will address the office of prosecutions and say, "listen, there is confusion, we don't know who you want to truly invite you must make a correction and after this we will analyze and decide what comportment to take in regards to this affair." - Andre Michel, Lawyer
Numerous accounts on the fire has investigating officials believe that the great damage was not caused by an accident but by arson.
Mayor Muscadin Jean Yves Jason was ordered to leave his office in Port-au-Prince after criticizing the government for not hosting Haiti's National Carnival in the capital city, as normally done.
In late February Mayor Jason received the dismissal and for two weeks stood his ground in defiance against the federal government pledging “resistance” from a “coup”.
Mayor Jason ultimately gave up his fight and left the municipality of Port-au-Prince on March 13th.
Related 03.06.2012: Haiti: Elected Officials Resisting President’s Decision to Remove Them
Related 03.01.2012: Haiti: Mayor of Port-au-Prince Rallies for "Resistance" from a "Coup"
Related 02.24.2012: Haiti: President Martelly Appoints Dozen Municipal Officials to Elected Seats
Related 02.20.2012: Haiti: No Carnival in Port-au-Prince, At All
Source: Radio Kiskeya
