2 convicted in death of Haitian journalist, others walk free

Two members of aHaitian militia group were sentenced to life imprisonment on Wednesday for the murder of a Haitian radio journalist in December 2001.

Brignol Lindor, news director of Radio Echo 2000 in Petit Goâve, was stabbed, slashed and beaten by a mob in the small town about 65 kilometres southwest of Port-au-Prince.

The attack was believed to have been led bymembers of local militia known as Domi nan Bwa,whichhad issued death threats against Lindor.

Lindor, 31, had spoken in his radio program about social issues and interviewed opponents of former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

While two militia members, Joubert Saint-Juste and Jean-Rémy Démosthène, were convicted, two others were let off and another six believed to have been involved in the killing have yet to be arrested.

On Thursday, press freedom organization Reporters without Borders welcomed the court's verdict.

"The life sentences are proportionate to the particularly barbaric way Lindor was murdered," the organization said in a statement.

But it condemned the shortcomings in preparation for the trial that allowed two other men to be released.

One man was acquitted because it was believed he may have been mistaken for his son; another case was dismissed because the defendant's name was entered incorrectly on the docket.

Reporters Without Borders urged the arrestsof six other militiamen charged in the case, accusing local authorities of dragging their feet in making the arrests. Charges were first laid against the men in 2002.

"We are still waiting to find out to what degree the former Petit-Goâve municipal authorities were involved in Lindor's murder," the group said.

Calls for 'zero tolerance'

Bony Dumay, Petit-Goâve deputy at the time of the murder, called for "zero tolerance" to be applied to the "terrorist" Lindor justdays before he was killed. He has not been charged.

Lindor is one of six journalists whose death is being investigated by the Independent Commission for Supporting Investigations into Murders of Journalists in Haiti.

The commission was created this Augustat President René Préval's initiative with the aim of helping the authorities combat impunity in a series of murders of journalists in recent years.

The others under investigation are:

• Jean Leopold Dominique, a Haitian journalist who spoke out against successive dictatorships and was killed in 2000.
• Jacques Roche, a journalist and poet killed in 2005.
• Abdias Jean, a Haitian reporter for a Florida station killed in 2005.
• Alix Joseph, a popular radio host killed this May.
• Ricardo Ortega, a Spanish TVjournalist killed in 2004.

However, the head of the commission, Joseph Delva, himself a journalist, was forced to flee Haiti in November because of death threats against him. He fled to the U.S.

Delvahas been a correspondent for the BBC and Reuters, and hosts a news program on Melodie FM, a Port-au-Prince radio station.