This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT AU PRINCE 003043 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR WHA AND USOAS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV HA
SUBJECT: HAITI'S INTERIM GOVERNMENT SENDS HALF OF THE 
SUPREME COURT INTO EARLY RETIREMENT 
 
REF: PAP 3019 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  Summary: The Interim Government of Haiti (IGOH) 
issued a presidential decree retiring five judges from the 
Haitian Supreme Court.  While most of Haitian society appears 
to have accepted the action without much concern, the legal 
community has cried foul.  The move comes on the heels of 
IGOH outrage over two Supreme Court decisions affirming 
Haitian-American Dumas Simeus' right to appear on the 
presidential ballot.  Post does not expect this event to 
delay elections, nor do we envision Simeus getting onto the 
presidential ballot.  This is another ill-considered IGOH 
decision that distracts from the urgent task of keeping 
elections on track.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  On December 9, the Interim Government of Haiti 
(IGOH) issued a presidential decree removing five of ten 
judges of the Haitian Supreme Court due to age and/or 
illness.  The IGOH cited a 1995 legal provision stating that 
justices can be retired after the age of sixty (Note: all 
judges on the Supreme Court are over sixty years old. End 
Note.)  A sixth judge, vice president and acting president of 
the Supreme Court, George Henri, died November 25 and is to 
be replaced by former interim Minister of the Interior 
Georges Moise, according to the decree.  (Note: Post reported 
in reftel that the Supreme Court lacked a quorum.  As only 
five judges sit on any given case, with one justice's illness 
and the death of Henri, that five-member panel of the Supreme 
Court lacked a quorum to render a judgment on disputed 
presidential candidate, and U.S. citizen, Samir Mourra's 
case.  End Note.)  The interim president's chief of staff, 
Michel Brunache, told the press the decision to retire the 
justices was made several weeks ago.  The evening of December 
9, interim Prime Minister Latortue confirmed to the DCM that 
the cabinet had approved the decision on December 7, the 
morning the Supreme Court publicized its second decision 
requesting Simeus' name be included on the presidential 
ballot. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  While the press and public reaction to the decree 
was muted over the weekend, there was significant rancor 
within the legal community.  One leading lawyer told Poloff 
"we are surprised, disappointed and indignant" of the 
decision to force the judges into early retirement.  He 
characterized the IGOH's move as "illegal, arbitrary and 
unconstitutional."  Alyans' presidential candidate, Evans 
Paul, publicly chided the IGOH for the forced retirement of 
the justices, but concurred the Supreme Court had violated 
the constitution by requesting Simeus to be put onto the 
ballot.  Another presidential candidate, ALAH's Reynold 
Georges, himself a lawyer, said the IGOH's maneuver is "an 
insult to the legal profession."  There is, however, a 
precedent.  Former president Ertha Pascal-Trouillot fired the 
entire Supreme Court. 
 
¶4.  (U)  Three of the four "retired" justices are refusing to 
relinquish their seats on the bench (the fourth judge is 
ill).  The National Association of Magistrates and the 
Association of Female Judges began a one week strike December 
12 in solidarity with the justices protesting the IGOH's 
decision.  Neither interim president Boniface Alexandre (who 
was president of the Supreme Court prior to his current 
position) or Minister of Justice Henri Dorleans (a human 
rights lawyer to whom the judges throughout Haiti report) has 
made a public statement regarding the retirement of the 
Supreme Court justices. 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  Comment:  Despite Brunache's (and the PM's) 
explanation, the vast majority of informed observers agree 
that the move to pension off the justices is tied to the 
October 11 and December 5 decisions in the Simeus case, and 
the IGOH is merely using the 1995 provision as a premise. 
The IGOH's explanation that justices were retired due to 
their age does not appear to withstand cursory scrutiny. 
Some of the judges retained are older than the ones retired. 
President Alexandre, nearly seventy, expects to return to the 
Supreme Court once a newly-elected president is sworn in.  We 
do not expect this event to delay the elections, nor do we 
envision Simeus getting onto the ballot.  (Printed ballots 
for seven of the ten departments have arrived in 
Port-au-Prince and are being guarded by MINUSTAH; the 
remaining ballots are expect in country NLT December 15.) 
However, the IGOH's decision to retire the justices makes it 
look foolish, and provides Simeus with an issue to keep 
himself in the public eye.  End Comment. 
CARNEY