CJA represents three women who successfully brought suit against Emmanuel “Toto” Constant, the former leader of Haiti’s notorious death squad known as FRAPH (Revolutionary Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti). On August 16, 2006, Constant was found responsible for torture, crimes against humanity and the systematic use of violence against women, including rape, for the purpose of terrorizing the Haitian population during that country’s brutal military regime in the early 1990s.  The judgment marked the first time that someone has been held accountable for the state-sponsored campaign of rape in Haiti. 

On August 29, 2006, CJA and pro bono co-counsel presented evidence at a hearing on the issue of damages before United States Federal District Court Judge Sidney Stein of the Southern District of New York.  Two of our clients testified.  Due to an on-going fear of reprisals, both testified anonymously in open court behind a screen.   CJA also offered testimony from Trinity University professor Robert Maguire who explained that FRAPH worked closely with the Haitian Armed Forces and was used to do the military’s “dirty work” in committing widespread human rights abuses. 

Constant was ordered to pay $19 million in damages to CJA’s clients.  In the order, Judge Stein stated,

Constant’s conduct was clearly malicious.  As commander of FRAPH, Constant founded and oversaw an organization that was dedicated principally towards terrorizing and torturing political opponents of the military regime.  His direction – or at a minimum, approval – of FRAPH’s state-backed campaign of violence constitutes an inexcusable violation of international law and merits a stiff punishment.

Intervention in State Mortgage Fraud Case Against Constant
                       
In July 2006, New York state officials arrested Constant in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme in Suffolk County, NY.  In May 2007, CJA intervened in the state court criminal case against Constant in an effort to prevent his immediate deportation to Haiti.  Our Haitian partners urged us to intervene because of the fear that Constant would increase instability in Haiti and because of the lack of an independent judiciary that could try him for his crimes. 

CJA submited evidence to the court on Constant's role as a former death squad leader, including hundreds of pages of evidence that detailed Constant’s history of human rights abuses.  CJA also sent Haitian human rights attorney Mario Joseph to the hearing to provide evidence that human right groups in Haiti felt strongly that Constant should serve the maximum sentence under the law in New York.

Background

In December 1990, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a former Haitian Catholic priest, won 67% of the popular vote in Haiti’s first democratic presidential election following years of repressive dictatorships.  Aristide took office in February of 1991, but was overthrown the following September in a violent coup d’état led by elements of the army.  From October 1991 to October 1994, an unconstitutional and brutal military regime governed Haiti.

The three-year military dictatorship was characterized by widespread state-sponsored human rights violations committed by the Haitian Armed Forces and a paramilitary organization led by Emmanuel “Toto” Constant called FRAPH (Revolutionary Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti).  The word “FRAPH” comes from the Haitian Creole word for a strong blow.  In 1993 and 1994, FRAPH worked in concert with the Haitian Armed Forces in their campaign of terror and repression against the civilian population of Haiti.  FRAPH members received arms and training from the Haitian Armed Forces who were running the government, and FRAPH was used by the military to maintain control over the population.  With the financial and logistical support of the Haitian Armed Forces and certain Haitian civilians, FRAPH used summary executions, forced disappearances, arson, rape and other forms of torture to terrorize the civilians in the poorest neighborhoods of Haiti.

In 1994, the U.S. military arrived in Haiti and secured the return of the democratically-elected government headed by President Aristide.  A few months after his return to power, Aristide issued a warrant for Constant’s arrest.  Constant fled Haiti and came to the U.S. in December 1994.

In November 2000, Constant, along with the high command of the Haitian Armed Forces, was convicted in absentia by a Haitian court in Gonaives, Haiti, for having command responsibility over the perpetrators of the infamous “Raboteau Massacre” in April of 1994.  In that incident, members of FRAPH, together with units of the Haitian Armed Forces, killed at least 26 unarmed civilians of the impoverished Raboteau neighborhood in Gonaives.  National and international observers, including the U.S. Department of State and the United Nations, found that the trial was fair to both the victims and the accused. Click here for CJA’s case against Carl Dorélien, another convicted perpetrator of the Raboteau Massacre.

The Targeting of Women in Haiti

Haiti saw a sharp increase in the incidents of politically-motivated rape toward the end of 1993 and the beginning of 1994 due to the creation of FRAPH.  FRAPH used rape and other forms of gender-based violence to punish and intimidate women for their political beliefs, or those of their husbands and to terrorize them during violent sweeps of pro-Aristide neighborhoods. The modus operandi of FRAPH was to team up with members of the Haitian Armed Forces to invade homes in the poorest neighborhoods of the city in the middle of the night.  In a typical raid, the attackers, all heavily armed, ransacked the house looking for the men of the house (who were usually forcefully abducted) and evidence of pro-democracy activity such as photos of President Aristide. The armed men then gang raped the women of the house in front of all remaining family members. Victims included girls as young as 10 and women as old as 80.  Often sons were forced at gunpoint to rape their own mothers.

Jane Doe et al v Emmanuel "Toto" Constant

Despite being the outspoken leader of the paramilitary death squad known as FRAPH (Revolutionary Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti), Toto Constant lived and worked openly in Queens, New York, for over twelve years. The U.S. government ordered the deportation of Constant in 1995, but suspended its efforts and released him from detention after he threatened on the 60 Minutes news program to expose information about the CIA’s role in the formation of FRAPH.

On December 22, 2004, CJA filed a lawsuit on behalf of three Haitian women against Constant for his participation in the wide range of human rights abuses committed by FRAPH in 1993 and 1994.  The lawsuit charged Constant with attempted extrajudicial killing, torture, and crimes against humanity.  As leader of FRAPH, the suit argued, Constant possessed and exercised command and control over its operatives.  The plaintiffs asserted that Constant was liable under the internationally recognized doctrine of "command responsibility".  This doctrine states that a military commander or civilian leader may be held responsible for abuses committed by subordinates if the commander knew, or should have known, about the abuses and failed to take all reasonable measures to prevent the abuses or punish the offenders.

Due to the fear of reprisals, the plaintiffs filed their claims anonymously.

Jane Doe I is a citizen of Haiti and current resident of the U.S.  In 1992, Jane Doe I’s husband was abducted and killed by members of the Haitian Armed Forces.  After her husband’s disappearance, members of the Haitian Armed Forces also arrested Jane Doe I, held her for a week, until they finally released her into the streets in the middle of the night stripped of all her clothing.  Once she finally made it home safe, Jane Doe I became very outspoken about the disappearance of her husband.  On two separate occasions Jane Doe I was raped by masked members of FRAPH in her home during the night.  Her children were present during the attacks.  During the second attack Jane Doe I was stabbed in the neck and left for dead.  Jane Doe I bore a child as a result of the attack.

Jane Doe II is a citizen of Haiti and current resident of the U.S.  Jane Doe II was an active member of a grassroots Pro-Aristide organization.  In 1991, members of the Haitian Armed Forces came to Jane Doe II’s house and abducted her and her husband.   During the time she spent in detention, she was severely tortured.  After her release from detention, Jane Doe II was once again attacked during a brief break from hiding to visit her brother.  She was repeatedly beaten and raped.  In that same attack her sister-in-law was also beaten and raped and subsequently died as a result of the attacks.

Jane Doe III is a citizen of Haiti and currently resides in the U.S.  In 1993, members of FRAPH came to the home of Jane Doe III in search of her husband, who had been a pro-Aristide activist.  When the FRAPH members could not find her husband, they brutally attacked Jane Doe III and left her for dead.

The case was filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York. CJA litigated this case with pro bono counsel Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP and the Center for Constitutional Rights.