 New
York, December 27, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
is shocked by the Christmas day attack on the home of Michèle Montas,
news director of Port-au-Prince-based Radio Haïti-Inter. A bodyguard
was killed in the apparent assassination attempt.
Montas is the widow of Jean Dominique, a renowned journalist and radio
station owner, who was gunned down at Radio Haïti-Inter on April
3, 2000. Montas has run the station ever since, serving as anchor of the
daily newscast.
Around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, a few minutes after Montas returned from a
Christmas lunch to her home in Pétionville, a suburb of Port-au-Price,
two heavily armed gunmen appeared on foot. As the assailants tried to
enter her home, two security guards shut the gate. The gunmen then opened
fire, killing security guard Maxim Séide, 26, who died at the scene.
Neither Montas, nor the second bodyguard, was injured in the attack.
As the gunmen fled on foot, police cordoned off the
area outside Montas' house to investigate. No arrests have been made at
this time.
The attack came a few days before Judge Bernard Saint-Vil is expected
to announce the completion of his investigation into Dominique's murder,
which has been suffered numerous setbacks, including the resignation of
two judges. Montas has been unsparing in her criticism of the slowness
of the investigation into her husband's killing, and of attacks against
the Haitian press.
Montas believes she was the intended target of an assassination attempt.
She told CPJ that she had asked her driver to take a different route back
to her house on Christmas day. "It was intuition," she added. Montas said
she has not received any recent threats, but "I feel that my life is in
danger."
Judge Saint-Vil, who has been carrying out the investigation, recently
announced that his inquiry will be completed by the end of the year. The
case will then go to prosecutor Josué Pierre-Louis, who will have
five days to ask for any information from the judge.
"We condemn this cowardly attack against our colleague Michèle
Montas, and mourn the death of her bodyguard Maxim Séide," said
CPJ executive director Ann Cooper. "This assassination attempt only confirms
our view that it is open season on journalists in Haiti. The government
of President Jean-Bertand Aristide must be held accountable."
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