Haiti Action Activist Yves Engler Jailed for at Least 4 Days for Heckling PM

Yves will be appearing before a judge on Monday morning at 9:00am at the Palais de Justice in room 507 (please confirm the room number upon arrival). Let’s get as many people there as possible to show our support!!

Please forward far and wide.

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For Immediate Release

Dec. 2, 2005

Activist jailed at least four days for heckling PM

Haiti Action Montreal condemns "criminalizing dissent" during election
campaign

Yves Engler, a member of Haiti Action Montreal, is being kept in jail
over the weekend after he disrupted a speech by the Prime Minister Thursday
morning shouting "Paul Martin lies, Haitians die."

Crown prosecutors refused to grant his release when Engler appeared in
court Friday, thirty hours after being detained. He will be in court
again Monday.

"Keeping someone in jail for at least four days because he heckled a
politician during an election campaign is completely outrageous," said
Nikolas Barry-Shaw, spokesperson for Haiti Action Montreal. "Has
shouting at a politician become a crime in Canada?"

Noting that other people heckled Martin at the same time as Engler and
that the PM has faced hecklers at many events, Barry-Shaw speculated
the Liberal government is particularly sensitive about criticism of its
policies in Haiti.

"Yves Engler has been extremely active in trying to make the Liberals
accountable for their role in the overthrow of Haiti's elected
government and the resulting human rights disaster," said Barry-Shaw. "He's
obviously made some important people very angry."

Engler, who also threw pieces of a human rights report about Haiti into
the air to symbolize the Liberal government's response to criticism
from numerous respected organizations, said he was surprised by amount of
time he was spending in jail.

"It's a strange world when Conrad Black is accused of stealing $80
million but has spent no time behind bars, while I heckled the Prime Minister
andget locked up for at least four days."

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For background information please see Http://outofhaiti.ca

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