Haiti - Justice : The Procuratorate of Croix-des-Bouquets tackles prolonged pretrial detention
Tuesday shortly before the start of the judicial year (1 October 2018), the prosecutor's office of the Croix-des-Bouquets opens from 25 to 29 September, a special session to fight against prolonged detention. During this session more than fifty files, including a hundred inmates will be examined. Two to three correctional chambers a day will rule on offenses, a criminal chamber for crimes, a specific chamber to decide on habeas corpus proceedings and a case-study cell of those who have completed their sentences and who are still in jail for various reasons.
In addition, at the beginning of the new judicial year of the 2018-2019 fiscal year, the Prosecutor's Office proposes to hold special hearings every first and third Saturday, with the rapid procedure of immediate appearance under the law. May 6, 1927, which states in its Article 1 "In the case of flagrante delicto, when the fact carries a correctional sentence, the agents of the Urban or Rural Police will hand the accused immediately to the Judge of Peace with a report indicating the nature, the circumstances of time and place of the offense, as well as the names of the witnesses, evidence or clues they may have collected. The Justice of the Peace shall promptly forward the charge to the Government Commissioner who will question and if necessary will forward it to Tribunal.
The prosecutor's office and the decanate of the Court of First Instance of Croix-des-Bouquets, under the leadership of Magistrates Yvon Jean Noël and Lyonel R. Dimanche, intend to make every effort to fight more effectively against this scourge that constitutes the prolonged preventive detention.
