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They live in fear as he walks free

Women seek justice in suit against Haitian commander who has lived in NY since '95

BY TINA SUSMAN | STAFF WRITER

November 17, 2005

Even now, 11 1/2 years after she was gang-raped and beaten by masked men in military uniforms, the woman known as Jane Doe II recoils at giving any hint to her identity or whereabouts.

She won't say when she came to the United States from her native Haiti, except to confirm it was sometime last year. She won't say what state she calls home, what time zone she is in, how old she is, how old her four children are, or give the names of relatives.

One thing Jane Doe II will reveal is her indignation at knowing that the man she says was her chief tormenter, a convicted mass murderer and former Haitian military commander named Emmanuel Toto Constant, has lived in New York since 1995, virtually harbored by the U.S. government under murky circumstances despite a deportation order and a litany of atrocities linked to him.

Over time, that indignation has become too much to bear for Jane Doe II and for two other women, known as Jane Doe I and Jane Doe III, all of whom have been forced, by fear of Constant, to live in the shadows while he walks free. Using a law that permits victims of abuses committed overseas to pursue damages in American courts, they have filed suit in federal court in New York in hopes of punishing Constant.

"I don't see that I have a choice in the matter," Jane Doe II said in a telephone interview as she explained her pursuit of Constant, a reputed killer and torturer with a talent for dodging the law. "I have to stand up and demand justice and demand attention to what happened, because if I don't, it's going to keep happening."

Fueling the urgency of the lawsuit is the political chaos in Haiti, where Constant's critics fear he could go back to his old ways if he returns.

Since a February 2004 coup, the very thugs blamed for enforcing Constant's brutality in the 1990s have taken advantage of the power vacuum to regroup. Chief among them is Louis Jodel Chamblain, Constant's deputy when he commanded the notorious Revolutionary Front for Advancement and Progress in Haiti, or FRAPH, in 1993-94.

"Chamblain is just one step away from Emmanuel Constant, and he has political ambitions and he is in Haiti and he is free," said attorney Moira Feeney of the San Francisco-based Center for Justice and Accountability, which is representing the plaintiffs.

Both men fled Haiti in 1995 after the elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, took power. Five years later, they were among dozens of ex-soldiers and paramilitary officers convicted in absentia for a 1994 massacre of Aristide supporters.

Chamblain slipped back into Haiti last year to help lead the coup that ousted Aristide. Three months later, a court overturned the massacre convictions.

Human rights activists said the ruling, along with other court decisions freeing accused human rights abusers, has set the stage for criminals to maneuver themselves into power after presidential elections next month.

Limited options for accusers

The situation has left Constant's accusers few outlets for pursuing justice.

For years, they demanded Constant be returned to Haiti, and in 1995 a U.S. immigration judge ordered Constant deported. Constant repeatedly appealed it on grounds he would face death or persecution under Aristide, and he was allowed to remain in the United States.

With Aristide now out of power and the massacre case overturned, human rights activists acknowledge that deporting Constant might not be the best thing after all.

"Right now there isn't a real rule of law, so it's possible he [Constant] could go back to doing some of the same things," said Brian Concannon, a lawyer who prosecuted the massacre case and who heads the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti.

U.S. criminal courts have no jurisdiction over Constant's alleged crimes in Haiti. That leaves civil action, such as the lawsuit filed by the Jane Does, the only option.

Neither Constant nor an attorney has responded to the suit. Feeney said the next step is to request a default judgment against Constant, which would be followed by a hearing to determine damages.

Laying out the evidence

According to evidence presented in the 23-page lawsuit, Constant led his followers in a bloody campaign against opponents of military rule. Working alongside Haitian soldiers, Constant's FRAPH soldiers would attack known or suspected supporters of Aristide, abducting men from their homes and raping the girls and women, the suit says.