The lawyers of Claude-Alix Bertrand Ambassador of Haiti to Unesco have confirmed that a criminal complaint for repeated rapes of minors under the age of 15 had been filed against Evans Lescouflair, former Minister of Youth and Sports.

Thursday March 24, 2022, the lawyers of Claude-Alix Bertrand Ambassador of Haiti to Unesco and captain of the national polo team of Haiti confirmed that a complaint on behalf of their client had been sent to the Commissioner of the Government of Port-au-Prince, against Evans Lescouflair former Minister of Youth and Sports "This is a criminal complaint for repeated rapes of minors under 15 years [...] The penalty for this crime is life imprisonment," underlined Me Franck Vanéus. Civil lawsuits have also been filed by attorneys for several other alleged victims who claim they were sexually abused by Lescouflair.

In an article in the English daily "The Guardian" published in the edition of March 24, 2022 Claude-Alix Bertrand declared that at the age of 11 Lescouflair while he was a teacher, had abused and raped him. "I cried begging him to stop but nothing changed, it lasted two years."

He explains that he said nothing at the time because he was afraid of the consequences "I grew up in a society where the teachers had all the rights [...] I thought that no one would believe me. I even thought that I may be punished for it … I was only 11 years old, I was a child and I was so scared [...]"

Bertrand's family then moved to the United States "[...] I’m not the only victim of this man. It’s been more than 40 years that he abused young boys in our country. It's an open secret, everyone knows it [...]" says Bertrand.

Lescouflair before being Minister, then President of the amateur sports club of Saint-Louis, after having created an academy program known as Anafoot with coach Jacques Succès Orisme in 2008, who died of Covid in April 2020, has already been the subject of a double complaint in 2010 for alleged rape of Wilio Dor and pedophilia of a 16-year-old minor, but the case was closed without further action by Me Harricydas Auguste, Government Commissioner at the time near the Court of First Instance of Port-au-Prince.

In 2015, Lescouflair was also accused by Himmler Rebu, then Minister of Youth and Sports (2014-2015) of having abused young players at the National Technical Center of the Haitian Football Federation (FHF) in Croix-des- Bouquets, without continuation also…

Let's recall that during his tenure as Minister of Sports, Lescouflair worked closely with Yves Jean-Bart, the former president of the Haitian Football Federation (FHF) who was banned from football for life in November 2020 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-32340-haiti-flash-yves-jean-bart-banned-for-life-from-football-by-fifa.html after being found guilty of sexual abuse and harassment of young players another scandal revealed by The Guardian https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30677-haiti-flash-football-sexual-abuse-yves-jean-bart-counterattack.html

SL/ HaitiLibre