Former Haitian paramilitary leader Emmanuel "Toto" Constant (image) was convicted in a U.S. federal court on Friday. Despite being accused of crimes like torture and murder in the 1990s, Constant was convicted of mortgage fraud after he fled Haiti to the U.S.He is expected to be sentenced in September and faces a maximum of fifteen years in jail. A previous plea deal arranged between prosecutors and Constant’s attorneys was dropped after his human rights abuses became public:
(…) At the time, prosecutors and the Department of Homeland Security had urged state Supreme Court Justice Abraham Gerges to sentence Constant to time served, about 10 months, to speed his deportation to Haiti.
Instead, the judge ordered Constant to go to trial, saying the murder and torture allegations facing him in his homeland "are heinous, and the court cannot in good conscience consent to the previously negotiated sentence"…
In Haiti, victims of paramilitary violence cheered news of Constant's fraud conviction, saying it bolstered hopes he would next face prosecution on murder and torture charges at home.
"I hope the (Haitian) government was taking notes, so they can be ready," said Mario Joseph, a lawyer for the victims of the 1994 attacks in Raboteau, where soldiers and paramilitaries are believed to have killed an unknown number of Aristide supporters.
Constant’s trial even drew the attention of actor Danny Glover who argued that victims in Haiti deserve for Constant to “stand trial there.”
Image- The Empire Zone
Sources- International Herald Tribune, New York Daily News, The Latin Americanist, WNYC
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