REPORT Nº 64/05 PETITION 445/2005 ADMISSIBILITY YVON NEPTUNE HAITI October 12, 2005 I. SUMMARY 1. On April 20, 2005, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (Hereinafter “the IACHR” or “the Commission”) received a complaint submitted by Brian Concannon, Mario Joseph, Hastings Human Rights Project for Haiti (Hereinafter the petitioners) in representation of Yvon Neptune against the Republic of Haiti (hereinafter “the State” or “Haiti”), the facts of which characterize alleged violations of his rights to humane treatment (Article 5), to personal liberty (Article 7), the right to a fair trial (Article 8), and the right to judicial protection (Art. 25(1)) established in the American Convention on Human Rights (Hereinafter the “Convention” or the “American Convention”). 2. The petitioners claim that Mr. Neptune, former Prime Minister of Haiti under former President Aristide’s administration, was arrested on June 27, 2004, in connection with his alleged participation in the killing of a number of individuals in the town of Saint Marc in February 2004. Since his arrest in June 2004 to the date upon which the petition was brought, Neptune has not been seen by a judge to determine the legality of his arrest. 3. The State has not presented a response to the facts alleged by the petitioners, nor has it called into question the admissibility of the petition under consideration. 4. In this report the IACHR, after analyzing the information available in light of the American Convention concludes that it is competent to consider the petitioners’ allegations that the detention of the victim violates the rights protected by Article 5, 7, 8 and 25(1) of the American Convention, and as the petition meets the requirements set out at Articles 46 and 47 of the American Convention, it decides to declare the petition admissible. The Commission likewise resolves to notify the parties of its decision, to publish it and include it in the Annual Report to be submitted to the General Assembly of the OAS. II. PROCESSING BEFORE THE COMMISSION 5. On April 20, 2005, the Commission received the complaint sent by the petitioners, which also included a request for precautionary measures and which was rejected by the Commission. 6. On May 4, 2005, the Commission transmitted the petition to the Haitian State and, in light of the potential risk to Mr. Neptune’s life and physical integrity posed by his hunger strike, requested a response from the Haitian State within an abbreviated time of 5 days, in accordance with Article 30(4) of the Commission’s Rules of Procedure. 7. At the time this report was considered, the State had not provided any information in response to the petition. III. POSITIONS OF THE PARTIES A. The Petitioners 8. The Petitioners explain that the alleged victim is an architect by trade, who was elected to Haiti’s senate in May 2000. After serving as the Senate’s President, he resigned his post to serve as Prime Minister in 2002. 1