Well over 15,000 people poured out from all corners of Haiti’s capital to march alongside the cortege of cars that carried former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide back to his home in Tabarre from the Port-au-Prince courthouse he visited on May 8.

Thousands more massed along sidewalks and on rooftops to cheer the procession on, waving flags and wearing small photos of Aristide in their hair, pinned to their clothing, or stuck in their hats.

Led by Fanmi Lavalas party coordinator Maryse Narcisse through a gauntlet of jostling journalists, Aristide had entered the courthouse (the former Belle Époque Hotel) at exactly 9:00 a.m., the time of his appointment to testify before Investigating Judge Ivickel Dabrésil. Aristide had waited with Narcisse in a car outside the court’s backdoor for about 45 minutes. It was only the second time that Aristide had left his home (and the first time publicly) since returning to Haiti on Mar. 18, 2011 from a seven-year exile in Africa following the Feb. 29, 2004 Washington-backed coup d’état which cut short his second government.

Lawyer Mario Joseph said that he was “very satisfied” with the reception given by Judge Dabrésil, who is investigating the April 2000 murder of radio journalist Jean Dominique and his radio’s caretaker Jean-Claude Louissaint, for which Aristide is one of many prominent Haitians, including former President René Préval, interviewed for testimony. Joseph said the three hour deposition was very “cordial and relaxed.”

But many Haitians feared that the summoning of Aristide – even if only for testimony – was a trap set by President Michel Martelly, who, as the former vulgar konpa musician “Sweet Micky,” was the principal cheerleader of both the 1991 and 2004 coups d’état against Aristide.

“This summoning of Aristide is a political act remote-controlled by the Martelly government, the same as the now discredited legal suits brought a few months ago by Ti Sony [a former resident of the Lafanmi Selavi orphanage who claimed that Aristide had “exploited” him and other orphans] and some who lost money when the cooperative banks went bust [while Aristide was in power in 2002 and 2003],” said outspoken Sen. Moïse Jean-Charles. “Those previous efforts to smear and destroy Aristide failed, so now they are trying this.”

Many Haitian radio commentators point to Judge Dabrésil’s postponement of Aristide’s deposition from its original date of Apr. 24 as proof that there is a political hand in the judge’s proceedings. The deposition, and the expected anti-Martelly pro-Aristide outpouring, would have taken place during the 5th Summit of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) from Apr. 23-26 held in Pétionville and attended by many regional leaders.

Furthermore, on Mar. 7, the Defend Haiti website reported that “Presidential Adviser Guyler Delva admitted, earlier this week, to giving Judge Ivekel Dabrésil a car, and Senator John Joel Joseph said on Radio Scoop FM on Wednesday [Apr. 30] that the administration had purchased a house in Florida for the judge.”

Another impetus for the massive turn-out came on the evening of May 7 when Haitian National Police (PNH) Director General Godson Orélus took to the airwaves to announce that the PNH had “received no formal notification of the demonstration” as required by law and that therefore “any demonstration is formally forbidden” along the route between Aristide’s house and the courthouse.

“The police don’t want any demonstration,” he concluded, throwing down a gauntlet which the Haitian people took up the next morning.

Lavalas leaders, including Narcisse, responded that the march was not a “demonstration” but an “accompaniment” of Aristide by the Haitian people. Many Lavalas leaders came to the courthouse to show their solidarity including Senators Moïse Jean-Charles, John Joel Joseph, Francky Excius, and Jean Baptiste Bien-Aimée; Deputy Saurel Hyacinthe; former senator Gérard Louis Gilles; former deputies Jacques Mathelier and Lionel Etienne; former Justice Minister Calixte Delatour; activists Farah Juste, Claudy Sidney, and Volcy Assad.

About 100 people had spent the night in a vigil across the street from Aristide’s home. At 6 a.m., hundreds more joined them to mass on the sidewalks in front of Aristide’s house.

But the real “accompaniment” began after the hearing. Leaving the courthouse at noon, Aristide’s ride home took five hours, passing slowly through downtown Port-au-Prince, the Champ de Mars, the hillside slum of Belair, Delmas 2, then the roads through the old military airport and past the international airport.

Parallel solidarity demonstrations were held in Cap Haïtien, Aux Cayes, and Petit Goâve.

Alongside the 20 or so cars that followed Aristide’s silver jeep, young and old walked, jogged, and ran, singing, chanting, and laughing. The river of humanity included motorcycles, bicycles, wheelchairs, and the occasional person on crutches.

Marchers also tore down pink government propaganda posters from lampposts along the way. Several posters declaring “With the Martelly/Lamothe government, Haiti is advancing” were torn up and left in pieces in the street for vehicles and marchers to pass over. (Martelly’s long-time business partner Laurent Lamothe is Haiti’s Prime Minister.)

Three times Aristide got out of his car to wave to the crowd — outside the courthouse gate, in Belair, and in front of his home — causing people to sprint toward his car and raise their arms, creating a sea of hands. Afterwards, people hugged and high-fived each other, some laughing, some crying.

One man dressed in rags moved down the line of cars following Aristide, wiping each car clean with a dirty cloth but asking for no money in return.

“Se pa lajan non, se volontè wi,” (It’s not for money, I’m here of my own free will) was the refrain of crowds which turned out for Aristide’s massive campaign rallies when he first ran for President in November and December 1990. The song was heard again on May 8, 2013 in the largely spontaneous march, which grew in size and volume as it made its way through the capital.

In contrast, when Martelly organized a carnival-like rally of a few thousand in the Champ de Mars on May 14, many participants were paid 1000 gourdes (US$24) a head to turn out. They were also given a t-shirt – either pink or white – to put on. But after taking the money, many “celebrants” discarded their t-shirts in the street, Haïti Liberté reporters observed. (A Haiti Liberté photographer was prevented from accessing a media stand at the May 14 rally after presenting his press credentials.)

Some pundits tried to banalize the historic march, saying it was merely the beginning of the electoral campaign of the Lavalas Family (FL), the party that Aristide founded in 1996. (Many Haitian political leaders, including those in the FL, strongly doubt whether free and fair elections can be held under Martelly, or whether he even wants to hold them. “No matter what, Martelly has to go” was another chant heard during the march.)
But May 8, 2013 was much more than a mere campaign rally. It was a watershed event, a popular show of force which has changed the political calculus of Haiti in the near-term. Haitian history has shown that when the Haitian people begin to move in such numbers, major political change is imminent. The weeks ahead will reveal exactly what that political change will be.

(Additional reporting was done by Haiti Liberté staff reporters Wendell Polynice and Daniel Tercier)

In February, the United Nations confirmed that a Canadian serving with the United Nations Police contingent of MINUSTAH had been accused of sexually and physically assaulting a Haitian woman. Yesterday, Marie Rosy Kesner Auguste Ducena, a lawyer with the Haitian National Human Rights Defense Network, told CBC news that, though the victim reported the assault to police, “nothing will happen… Women who will go to complain, you will see that maybe somebody will take the complaint and will say to her you will be called after. But in fact, the case will just be closed.” CBC notes that the “day after the incident, the man boarded a flight back to Canada, where he remains.”

This is but the latest in a series of sexual abuse allegations leveled against MINUSTAH personnel in Haiti. According to U.N. data, since 2007 there have been 70 allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation against MINUSTAH members, but as CBC news points out, “not one has ended up in a Haitian court.”

The lack of accountability of U.N. military and police personnel in Haiti has “undermined” the organizations reputation and its ability to carry out its mandate, according to Mark Schneider of the International Crisis Group (ICG). “The UN should ensure that in the agreement with the troop-contributing countries, that there is an understanding of what will happen if an abuse occurs — that there will be a full investigation, and that there will be appropriate action taken,” Schneider added.

According to the CBC, the current case is complicated by the fact that the Canadian was serving as a UN Police agent. The CBC reports:

Soldiers can be tried in a military court, but under UN rules, civilian staff — including police officers — are immune from criminal prosecution in the country where the alleged offence occurred. Once back in Canada, they cannot be charged for a crime committed abroad.

Since 2007, the majority of sexual abuse allegations have involved civilian (including police) staff, while 40 percent of allegations involved military personnel. While police are granted immunity from local courts, military personnel are also afforded a layer of protection. In fact, the UN has little control over investigating and punishing military personnel accused of wrongdoing. According to an ICG interview with a senior official in the Conduct and Discipline Unit of MINUSTAH, “The UN reviews cases and urges countries to provide faster follow-up but does not investigate to determine if discipline or punishment is needed.” The U.N.’s lack of ability to investigate or hold accountable those accused of wrongdoing flies in the face of the organization’s stated “zero tolerance” policy.

Looking further at the data, MINUSTAH’s track record looks even worse. Since 2008, 31 percent of the allegations involved minors, while another 30 percent involved individuals of an “unidentified” age. Also, while allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation across all U.N. missions has decreased over the last 6 years, the number of allegations involving MINUSTAH increased each year from 2009-2011, and there have been 5 such allegations already in 2013, which puts the mission on pace for more than ever before. Despite accounting for 10 percent of U.N. “peacekeeping” staff worldwide, MINUSTAH accounted for over 20 percent of the allegations of sexual abuse in 2011 and nearly 40 percent so far in 2013.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Testimony in the high-profile case of former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier resumed Thursday, with another alleged victim describing abuses she says were committed under his rule.

Dr. Nicole Magloire told an appellate court about the broad influence wielded by the former leader known as “Baby Doc,” and the alleged violations associated with his 15-year government.

Duvalier “was declared supreme leader of all the armed forces in the country,” said Magloire, an opposition leader who fled into exile during that era. “He was in charge of the National Palace. He was in charge of the army. He was in charge of the country.”

Magloire is the third person this month to testify about alleged abuses under Duvalier, a playboy strongman who inherited power from his father Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier and ruled Haiti from 1971-1986 with the help of the Tonton Macoutes private militia.

Last week, two other people described ghastly prison conditions they said they endured while locked up for months in a prison notorious for torture.

Magloire spent five days behind bars after being arrested by government of the younger Duvalier, the former “president for life” known as “Baby Doc.”

Defense attorney Fritzo Canton asked her Thursday if the arrest might have been a mistake. “If I was arrested by mistake, I was imprisoned by mistake and forced into exile by mistake,” Magloire said.

Duvalier was charged with human rights abuses and embezzlement in 2011 after his surprise return to Haiti following 25 years in exile. His attorneys say he is innocent on both counts.

A lower court threw out the human rights charges and said Duvalier should face charges only for the alleged financial crimes.

The court of appeals is now considering whether to reinstate the rights abuse charges, and is looking at an appeal by Duvalier’s legal team to drop the embezzlement charges as well.

The case could also go to a trial.

Duvalier recently made a surprise appearance in court, after failing to honor three earlier orders to appear, and testified that Haiti was better off under his watch.

International and local human rights groups hailed Duvalier’s day-long testimony a small triumph for a judiciary long plagued with dysfunction and corruption.

The 61-year-old Duvalier suddenly checked into an unspecified hospital following his court appearance, his attorney Reynold Georges said. The attorney said Thursday that Duvalier had since left the hospital, but declined to say when.

The court will hear more testimony from alleged victims next week.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Two men testified before a three-judge appeals panel Thursday that they were imprisoned in ghastly conditions for months without charge under the government of former dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier.

Agronomist Alix Fils-Aime described his time at the Fort Dimanche prison in the 1970s, saying most of the people held with him were tortured and killed.

“I was able to hear people being beaten, dragged in the hallway, and I could hear women screaming as they were being forced to have sexual relations with the guards,” he said.

The other plaintiff, Robert “Boby” Duval, told about how he was lucky to eat a bowl of grits once a day while locked up in the same prison. He added that up to 40 prisoners in a single cell shared a bucket as a toilet.

The case of Haiti’s former ruler known as “Baby Doc” has surprised many in Haiti in recent weeks as it gains traction in what has long been a sluggish and dysfunction legal system. The weekly hearings in the country’s main courthouse have been packed with journalists, human rights activists and observers from embassies.

Duvalier unexpectedly took the stand a week ago as he defended his 15-year rule following three earlier no-shows. The former “president for life” characterized the era as a better time for Haiti and said he took action against abuses.

The court had called on Duvalier to be available for further questions, but he didn’t show up Thursday. His main attorney said this week that the 61-year-old had checked into a hospital for an unspecified illness.

Duvalier was charged with human rights abuses and embezzlement after his surprise return to Haiti in 2011 following 25 years in exile.

But a lower court judge ruled that Duvalier should face only the charges for financial crimes because the statute of limitations on the alleged rights abuses had expired. That decision was appealed by lawyers for both Duvalier and his alleged victims.

The case slowly made its way through the legal system, and appeared dormant, until it reached an appellate court judge in January. The appeals court can reinstate the human rights abuse charges, pursue the financial crimes charges, or drop both. The case could also go to a trial.

Defense attorney Reynold Georges said he was confident that Duvalier would be cleared of the charges.

The appeals court is to hear more testimony next Thursday.

In a separate court case Thursday, former President Rene Preval testified behind closed doors as authorities tried to revive an investigation into the long-unsolved killing of Haiti’s most celebrated journalist.

Rene Preval at Duvalier’s hearing. Photo by Dieu Nalio Chery

Preval showed up early in the morning before spectators or journalists could see him enter the court and he left several hours later, declining to discuss what he told the investigative judge seeking to build a criminal case in the April 2000 slaying of Jean Dominique.

Preval, who was president in 1996-2001 and 2006-2011, then headed to the Venezuelan Embassy to pay his respects following the death of President Hugo Chavez.

Preval was serving his first presidential term when Dominique was shot to death outside Radio Haiti-Inter, where he worked. Preval and Dominique were friends and political allies who opposed the Duvalier and military dictatorships.

Dominique was 69 at the time of his death and his slaying was later the subject of “The Agronomist,” a 2003 documentary by Jonathan Demme.

Ban Ki-moon
photo by the World Economic Forum

The UN has taken the rare step of invoking its legal immunity to rebuff claims for compensation from 5,000 victims of the Haiti cholera epidemic, the worst outbreak of the disease in modern times and widely believed to have been caused by UN peacekeepers importing the infection into the country.

Citing a convention laid down in 1946, the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, telephoned President Michel Martelly of Haiti to tell him that the UN was not willing to compensate any of the claimants. The epidemic has killed almost 8,000 people and stricken hundreds of thousands more – about one out of every 16 Haitians.

For the UN to claim immunity for a crisis that most experts are convinced it unwittingly caused through its own disaster relief mission is highly contentious. The infection is thought to have been carried into Haiti by UN peacekeepers from Nepal sent to help with disaster relief following the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

Ban’s spokesperson issued a carefully worded statement that pointedly did not accept or deny liability for the epidemic. But the statement made clear that the UN would not countenance the compensation claims, invoking its immunity from such legal disputes under section 29 of the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the UN.

The convention was one of the first treaties passed by the UN at its inception in 1946. In it, the UN grants to itself legal protections in the countries in which it operates, while section 29 extends that immunity to any UN worker operating in an official capacity.

This is not the first time that the UN has invoked its own immunity, but it is a highly unusual move made more controversial by the extreme distress in Haiti to which it relates. Sensitivities are running high within the UN headquarters in New York.

The suit for compensation was brought in November 2011 by the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH), a group of lawyers based in Boston. It sought to require the UN to install a national water and sanitation system to control the epidemic, pay compensation to victims for their losses, and make a public apology for its “wrongful acts”.

Nicole Philips, speaking in IJDH’s office in Haiti, gave a jaundiced reaction to the announcement, saying they were “not surprised by this at all. It’s all very political”. She said almost three times as many people had died in the continuing crisis as in the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

“If this had been a corporation, and if it had been an environmental spill, there would have been liability,” Philips said.

Mario Joseph, the lead counsel for the 5,000 victims on whose behalf IJDH filed the lawsuit, plans to travel from Port-au-Prince to the worst-affected Artibonite department to pass on news of Thursday’s UN statement.

“The United Nations can’t have humanity and impunity at the same time. [The victims] still do not know what the UN has said, as they live in the countryside, but I know that they will want us to fight for justice from the UN.”

Alix MacGuffie, 42, who lives in the coastal port town of Saint Marc in western Haiti’s worst-affected Artibonite department, got cholera in July 2011. Speaking on the phone, he responded to news of the UN’s decision. “I could have died from cholera. The UN caused us much harm and we should get compensation. If we don’t stop cholera, what will happen in the future?”

Maximilien Saint Juste, 29, an electrician at a hospital in Saint Marc, said he was treated for cholera in November 2011 at the very hospital at which he works and though he is better now, he faces “discrimination” for having had the disease. “I think every victim should get compensation. The UN hasn’t taken responsibility for the fact that they brought cholera to Haiti. Many people died from cholera and many of us suffer discrimination. A lot of people think that cholera cannot be treated entirely; they believe that cholera always sticks in your blood cells.”

Cholera broke out in Haiti in Octo­ber 2010. Since then there has been substantial medical research, including full genome sequencing on the strain of cholera found in Haiti, which identified UN peacekeepers from Nepal as the source of the disease.

In October 2012, two years after the outbreak, a leading US cholera specialist, Dr Daniele Lantagne, said, “that the most likely source of the introduction of cholera into Haiti was someone infected with the Nepal strain of cholera and associated with the UN Mirebalais camp.” She said “that the strain of cholera in Haiti is an exact match for the strain of cholera in Nepal.”

The UN has accepted that inadequate sanitation at its barracks in Mirebalais, 60km north-east of the capital, Port-au-Prince, might have been a possible source of the bacterium. But it has doggedly refused to accept liability, insisting that the source of the cholera remains unclear and that the epidemic was caused by a “confluence of circumstances” that included problems with water, sanitation and public health.

While rebuffing the compensation claims, the UN has vowed to continue its efforts to contain the epidemic. So far the UN has spent $118m on medical equipment, health networks, water and sewerage improvements, health education at schools and other programmes designed to stem the crisis.

In December, Ban launched an initiative to eliminate the infection, and a new oral vaccination campaign is in the offing.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti–A Haitian judge on Thursday summoned Jean-Claude Duvalier to appear in court after the former dictator defied an order to attend a hearing to determine whether he should again face charges for human rights abuses committed during the nearly 15 years of his brutal regime. A prosecutor said the judge’s order requires Duvalier to appear in court next Thursday.

In an airless courtroom filled with human rights activists, journalists and other observers, magistrate Jean Joseph Lebrun also dismissed an appeal filed by the defense team that sought to take the case to the Supreme Court.

The rulings in Haiti’s Court of Appeal provided some hope to a group of plaintiffs who are seeking to have the former dictator better known as “Baby Doc” prosecutor for alleged rights abuses. “Today’s decision is an important victory for Duvalier’s victims who never gave up hope of seeing him in court, and for the Haitian people who have the right to know what happened during the dark years of the Duvalier dictatorship,” said Reed Brody, counsel and a spokesman for Human Rights Watch. “It’s now up to the authorities to make sure that this summons is swiftly executed.”

Thousands were imprisoned, tortured or killed during Duvalier’s 1971-1986 regime for opposing the government. He was ousted in a popular revolt.

The Duvalier case appeared dormant until it went before Haiti’s Court of Appeal in January. It had marked time since a lower court judge ruled in January 2012 that Duvalier should face charges only on alleged financial crimes rather than human rights abuses associated with his regime. That decision came in a formal investigation of Duvalier after he suddenly returned to Haiti in early 2011 from 25 years in exile.

Haitians who claim to have suffered from abuses by the dictatorship appealed seeking to reinstate the rights abuse charges, while Duvalier’s defense team appealed the charges of financial crimes, for which he would serve five years in prison if convicted.

Outside a circle of activists and plaintiffs, the case has gone largely unnoticed in Haiti, where more than half of the 10 million people weren’t even alive during Duvalier’s rule. The Duvalier years are not included in the curriculum at Haiti’s schools.

While some 2,000 to 3,000 people are locked up in prolonged detention, Duvalier has been allowed to live in a villa in the hills above the capital during the proceedings. He’s been spotted in the high-end restaurants of Port-au-Prince and has ventured out to the countryside despite a judge putting him under his house arrest. The government reissued Duvalier’s diplomatic passport in December.

Attorneys for people who filed complaints alleging they were tortured by agents of Duvalier’s regime urged the judge on Thursday to have the former leader arrested for not showing up in court. It was the third time that the ruler ignored the court, for which he hasn’t been penalized. The appeals hearing brought dozens of observers, from journalists to international rights activists who flew in specifically for the case.

The two earlier hearings ignored by Duvalier were raucous and sometimes volatile, but Thursday’s session was more orderly.

Defense attorney Reynold Georges, a brash former senator known for making long speeches, criticized the judge for dismissing his appeal to the Supreme Court. “It’s a decision that they made without consent of the law,” Georges said.

Plaintiffs seeking to reinstate the rights abuse charges expressed hope that Duvalier may now finally be forced to appear in court to testify. “They are really going to force him to come here,” said Robert Duval, a plaintiff and former soccer star who was imprisoned during the Duvalier era. “No more hanky panky anymore. They have to bring him here.”

Court’s order that Jean-Claude Duva­lier appear in court is another vic­tory for the victims

The Bureau des Avo­cats Inter­na­tionaux (BAI), in its mis­sion to defend Haiti’s poor and the inalien­able rights inher­ent to all human beings, con­sid­ers the appel­late court’s reit­er­a­tion on Feb­ru­ary 7, 2013, of the sum­mons to Jean-Claude Duva­lier to per­son­ally appear in court another vic­tory for his victims.

Addi­tion­ally, this was the first time that the Court rec­og­nized Jean-Claude Duvalier’s sta­tus as the accused, so his per­son­nel appear­ance at a hear set for Feb­ru­ary 21, 2013, will be required or he risks arrest. Accord­ing to lawyer Mario Joseph of the Bureau des Avo­cats Inter­na­tionaux, one of the victim’s lawyers, “the Court’s order is also a vic­tory for the vic­tims claim­ing civil dam­ages because the Court also con­firmed our stand­ing as civil claimants despite efforts from the lawyers for the accused to derail the process. Their strat­egy was to block Duva­lier from appear­ing before the court to be questioned.”

The lawyers note that this vic­tory comes in the midst of a very dif­fi­cult con­text for a fair hear­ing. Haiti’s Pres­i­dent, Michel Martelly, has pub­licly sup­ported Mr. Duva­lier, and his top offi­cials include many chil­dren of top Duva­lier regime offi­cials. The Martelly government’s largest sup­port­ers, espe­cially the United States, France and MINUSTAH, have declined to pub­licly rec­og­nize the Hait­ian government’s inter­na­tional law oblig­a­tion to pur­sue the crimes against human­ity claims against Mr. Duvalier.

Accord­ing to Brian Con­can­non of the Insti­tute for Jus­tice & Democ­racy in Haiti, “every human rights orga­ni­za­tion that has addressed the issue — from the UN High Com­mis­sioner for Human Rights and the Inter-American Com­mis­sion on Human Rights, to Amnesty Inter­na­tional, Human Rights Watch and the FIDH — has con­cluded that Duvalier’s vic­tims should get their day in court. By refus­ing to speak up in favor of finan­cial account­abil­ity and against polit­i­cal vio­lence, the Martelly regime’s sup­port­ers are plac­ing friend­ship over the long-term sta­bil­ity and pros­per­ity of Haiti. It is espe­cially dis­ap­point­ing that the cur­rent U.S. State Depart­ment, which boasts some of the world’s top human rights lawyers and speaks out boldly for human rights else­where, is let­ting Duvalier’s vic­tims down.”

The RCMP says a Haitian woman complained to Haitian National Police that a Canadian police officer sexually and physically assaulted her.

Spokesman Vincenzo Pugliese, confirmed the UN is currently investigating the alleged incident.

The RCMP says the officer returned to Canada on his own without authorization from Canadian or UN authorities.

A spokesperson for Canada’s foreign affairs minister John Baird responded to the allegations in an email.

He said the government is taking the allegations very seriously, and said Canada would co-operate with any potential investigations.

More than 80 Canadian police officers are working with the UN mission in Haiti.

Nigel Fisher has been named the new head of the UN’s MINUSTAH peacekeeping mission in Haiti, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced Friday.

New MINUSTAH Chief Nigel Fisher (UN Photo/Victoria Hazou)

Fisher, a native of Canada, has served since 2010 as the Deputy Special Representative, UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Haiit.

He has also been named as Bans’ Acting Special Representative for Haiti, succeeding Chile’s Mariano Fernandez in both roles. Fernandez’ 20-month term ended on Thursday.

“Mr Fisher brings to the position a thorough knowledge of the political, security and socio-economic situation in Haiti,” the world body said in a release.

Fisher led the UN team which developed the Haiti Post Disaster Needs Assessment with national authorities following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

He is a former CEO of the United Nations Children’s Fund Canada, among positions across the globe, including in 12 developing countries in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Fisher led the drive in 2012 for increased humanitarian aid for Haiti, citing a “disappointing” international response to the Consolidated Appeal for Haiti last year.

When Lucmane Délille, Port-au-Prince’s district attorney, summoned former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to appear before him on Wednesday, Jan. 9 to answer patently frivolous complaints, it caused a great awakening of the Lavalas masses, alarming those in Haiti and abroad who thought it was time to behead Aristide’s party, the Lavalas Family.

Indeed, tensions ran high that day when thousands of Aristide’s supporters massed outside the courthouse where Aristide was summoned to appear before Délille at 10 a.m.. Similar outpourings took place in Haiti’s major cities like Cap Haïtien, Gonaïves, and Jérémie. However, when the prosecutor saw the crowds, he decided, at the urging of Aristide’s lawyers, to go meet with the former head of state at his home in Tabarre, on the northern outskirts of the capital.

When the crowd heard that news, the thousand of demonstrators marched, jogged, and ran from the courthouse to Aristide’s home, about four miles away.

What exactly happened at Aristide’s home?

Délille told journalists that he had a cordial conversation with Dr. Aristide. The conversation was very brief, no more than 30 minutes. There was a massive police presence. Not since his return to Haiti on Mar. 18, 2011 after seven years in exile had so many police officers been mobilized to provide Aristide security. It appears that day was the first time that district attorney Délille realized that he was dealing with a former head of state and that meeting with Aristide posed a security problem.

Délille also pretended that he interviewed Aristide. But, according to a reliable source who was at the meeting, Délille’s assistant, Paul Eronce Villard, conducted most of the interview. There was also in Délille’s delegation a senior official of the Justice Ministry whose name was not revealed.

This raises an important question: who was the Justice Ministry employee, and why was he there?

Aristide’s lawyers were also present: Mario Joseph, Dabia Jean Lunès, Camille Leblanc, Joël Petit-homme, Newton Saint-Juste, and Guy César. According to them, the meeting was very cordial. Délille’s team displayed no arrogance and did not conduct the meeting as an interrogation or hearing.

Aristide’s lawyers said they took the opportunity to object to the proceeding. Délille was acting on two complaints, the first that Aristide was responsible for the losses some people incurred after investing in a cooperative bank which failed during his time in office. One lawyer argued that “a head of state cannot be aware of a contract between two private individuals.”

The second complaint was brought by Sony Thélusma (Ti Sony), who, as a child, had lived at Lafanmi Selavi, an orphanage Aristide ran in the 1980s. Thélusma, who was allied with pro-coup forces in the years before the Feb. 29, 2004 putsch against Aristide, claimed that his former mentor raised money for the orphanage which was then misspent on political projects. The lawyers said that there is no evidence whatsoever to support that claim and that Fanmi Selavi fed and housed hundreds of poor street children.

Despite the cordiality and the lawyers’ objections, Délille sent the case to an investigating judge, the equivalent in Haitian law of convening a grand jury. The investigating judge can choose to proceed with the prosecution or dismiss it, or even to have Aristide arrested.

Many parliamentarians have strongly criticized Délille and the government for their action. Senators Moïse Jean Charles, John Joël Joseph, and Jean-Baptiste Bien-Aimé, among many others, said that the questioning of Aristide amounts to political persecution carried out by the government to undermine the Lavalas Family leader. Sen. Bien-Aimé said that President Michel Martelly and Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe fear that the power and popularity of the Lavalas Family would hurt them in upcoming elections and that they had to do everything to discredit and destroy Aristide’s popularity. Meanwhile, Sen. Jean-Charles accused Martelly of instigating the legal proceedings against Aristide. Other parliamentarians called on Délille to resign.

Durin Duret Junior, president of the National Association of Haitian Magistrates (ANAMAH) and Carlos Hercule, president of the Federation of Bar Associations of Haiti, said that Délille had proceeded illegally.

“This is a real spectacle that we’ve witnessed this Wednesday in Port-au-Prince,” Duret said. “A magistrate must operate in compliance with the law and legality. Once the standards are not met, there is automatically a risk of hurting oneself. Prosecutor Délille’s conduct in the case of the former priest of St. John Bosco continues to sully the institution and as a result the judicial system itself.”

The big question is this: are Délille and the Martelly/Lamothe regime really trying to uphold justice and the rule of law by embarking on this adventure?

Martelly, showered with accusations that he is behind Aristide’s prosecution, denies it. However, Aristide’s supporters point to a growing number of legal anomalies and “dirty tricks” under his administration: the November 2011 arrest of Deputy Arnel Bélizaire, despite his parliamentary immunity; the unlawful arrest and imprisonment of 21 Lavalas supporters hours after a Jan. 1, 2013 demonstration; the release from jail of Martelly’s Special Adviser, Calixte Valentin, who murdered Octanol Dérissaint before numerous eye-witnesses; the alleged involvement of National Palace security chief, Marc-Arthur Phébé in the Clifford Brandt kidnapping ring; and finally the case of Josué Pierre-Louis, the hand-picked president of Martelly’s contested Permanent Electoral Council, who is credibly accused of raping a subordinate.

Despite the alarm and outcry of his supporters, Aristide continues to preach peace. “Honor and respect for each person who is making a big sacrifice by marching under the hot sun for democracy to give justice and peace,” Aristide said in a statement issued after the demonstration outside his home. “Honor and respect for that great patriotic sacrifice. I’d like to embrace each of my sisters and brothers who were in the crowd, but unfortunately that is not possible. Allow me to tell you ‘thank you’ while I renew my engagement to always remain faithful to you all. Haiti, our mother, is thirsty for peace for her children. In mutual love, we will continue to protect that peace so that every Haitian, without distinction, lives with peace in his head and in his stomach.”

The massive mobilization to defend Aristide certainly surprised Délille. Anxiety and disappointment were clearly visible on his face as he stood before television cameras after the meeting in Tabarre.

Meanwhile, Lavalas militants, some of whom had been divided by secondary differences, were energized and emboldened by their massive show of unity on Jan. 9.