PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti, CMC – Tuesday’s press freedom organization SOS Journalists expressed concern over what it termed are efforts to undermine the investigation into the murder of journalist and political analyst Gary Tess.
In a statement, SOS Journalists said it “denounces and protests against this plot which is being hatched with the ultimate objective of covering up and protecting the assassins.”
Tess, who hosted a political program on Radio Lebon FM in Les Cayes, was reported missing on Tuesday, October 18, 2022. Almost a week later, on October 24, his body was discovered in the locality de Foko, just outside Les Cayes.
SOS Journalists said it has learned that a request for the judge’s recusal has been addressed to the Court of Cassation “with the…objective of prolonging…the suffering of the parents and allies of the victim.
“SOS Journalists calls on the highest judicial body in the country, the Court of Cassation, to allow Judge Robert Jourdain to conclude his investigation, in due form and within a reasonable time.”
After almost 12 months, it said, “These delaying maneuvers must stop so that justice may finally be done for the family and loved ones of murdered journalist Gary Tess.
“SOS Journalists also calls on Prime Minister Ariel Henry, the Minister of Justice, Emmelie Prophète-Milcé, and the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSPJ) to take all the administrative and security measures necessary for the protection of Judge Jourdain, currently under heavy and persistent death threats.
“Any refusal or failure on the part of the competent authorities to assume this responsibility, which is theirs, must be considered as a manifest desire of the power in place to make a pact with the journalist’s killers and to curb the freedom of the press and expression in Haiti. Which is not conceivable or acceptable today.”
SOS Journalists said it also reiterates a call for the immediate release of journalist Guerlain Hyppolite, who has been imprisoned for more than eight months in
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