PORT-AU-PRINCE, (Reuters) – Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide appeared in public for the first time since returning from exile more than two years ago, testifying in court yesterday about the assassination more than a decade ago of a popular radio journalist and human rights activist.
In a testament to his continued political sway, thousands of supporters sang pro-Aristide songs and waved his picture behind police barricades down the street from the courthouse. They had pledged to accompany him from his home in a Port-au-Prince suburb to the court and back despite a ban on demonstrations for the day.
Aristide, still a polarizing figure, was accompanied by political allies and armed police guards to the judge’s chamber in the capital where he spent just under three hours answering questions in the case of Jean Dominique, who was gunned down in April 2000 along with a security guard outside Haiti-Inter, the radio station he owned.
Aristide smiled to reporters but made no comment as he left the left the courthouse. “The atmosphere was very cordial. The courts did a good job, the police provided good security,” his lawyer, Mario Joseph, told Reuters after leaving court.
Dominique’s death occurred as Aristide was preparing to run for a second presidential term that year and Dominique was also rumored as a potential presidential candidate.
While several low-level arrests of the suspected gunmen were made at the time, who ordered the murder has remained one of Haiti’s great unsolved crimes.
