Aristide Aims to Sue US, France for Kidnap -Lawyer

[AZCat]

Aristide Aims to Sue US, France for Kidnap -Lawyer

PARIS (Reuters) - Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide plans to sue the United States and France for allegedly kidnapping him, one of his lawyers said Monday.

Aristide, who arrived in the Central African Republic a week ago, has repeatedly accused the United States of forcing him into exile after a rebellion plunged Haiti into chaos.

Lawyer Gilbert Collard said he and an American colleague would file identical suits in France and the United States in the next few days once they receive final authorization from Aristide.

"We will file suit against the French ambassador (in Port-au-Prince) and against the (U.S.) military authorities that carried out the abduction of the president," he told Reuters.
<snip>

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&ncid=564&e=1&u=/nm/20040308/ts_nm/haiti_lawyer_dc_2

[AP]

1. It's definitley a tort. False imprisonment. I hope it's a crime too.

But I bet the lawyers carefully picked the CAR after checking out the law.

[I AM SPARTACUS]

2. DC and Paris - "denied allegation of kidnapping, saying he agreed to..."

from the cited article:
"Washington and Paris have denied his allegation of kidnapping, saying he agreed to leave Haiti and signed his own letter of resignation."

Hmmm. Duress.
http://www.lectlaw.com/def/d082.htm
<snip...>
DURESS - Restraint or danger, actually inflicted or impending, which is sufficient in severity or apprehension to deprive a person of free choice, destroy his volition, or obtain consent only in form.

Under the law...
First. Duress of imprisonment, where a man actually loses his liberty. If a man be illegally deprived of his liberty until he sign and seal a bond, or the like, he may allege this duress, and avoid the bond.
Second. Duress per minas, which is either for fear of loss of life, or else for fear of mayhem, or loss of limb,; and this must be upon a sufficient reason. In this case, a man way avoid his own act.
<snip...>
Mm-hmm. Duress.

[I AM SPARTACUS]

3. bump

[Judi Lynn]

4. I hope to God there are some safe security people around him

How on earth can he make it, with _Bush and his Republicans in control of his life?

Everyone will certainly know where to look if something happens to this man.

[eablair3]

5. how dare those damn lawyers do that

This will surely get Bush in action for "tort reform".

Bush's likely comment, "We must pass tort reform as it's a matter of urgent national security. These lawyers are evil doers, and they assist other evil doers. They are enemies of the people of the United States. We can't have these damn lawyers running around filing lawwwwsuits every time we do something."

seriously, ... I'm glad to see this. Thankfully some lawyers will still take the fight to them. We're more likely to find out the facts and what happened in this manner.

[I AM SPARTACUS]

6. I'd like to see attorneys in the US file suit...I'm sure there's a way...

[eablair3]

8. that's what I thought they will be doing

filing a civil action for false imprisonment. using the military power of the U.S. to forcibly remove a democractically elected leader of another country.

Geez, ... I'd think if there was a real Attorney General office, that they'd set up an investigation, find out the facts, and prosecute those responsible criminally, if warranted.

But, the civil claim will likely include claims for false imprisonment and who knows what else. Maybe there is some RICO (Racketeering and Corrupt Influences ...??) claim they could make. Or, how about engaging in "terrorism". I'm sure that what happened, if proven, meets the definition of "terrorism" even under the U.S. definition.

gosh, ,... I couldn't even imagine to begin to think about all the damages that Haiti could claim. The damages to Aristide, and the people of Haiti, would be huge, esp if proven that BushCo armed Guy Phillipe and Louis Chamblain, as was likely, in my opinion.

[I AM SPARTACUS]

10. did Belgium de-fang that mechanism they had to file human rights cases...?

...human rights complaints anywhere in the world could be lodged in Belgian courts?

[not systems]

11. Yep. They were forced to drop it after...

Tommy Franks and Tony Blair were charged.

[mouse7]

7. The most important question... "Is there evidence?"

Still photos, video?

He'll need something concrete like that to win a court case. It also wouldn't hurt in the court of public opinion to have a video of a US Marine carrying Aristide like a sack of potatoes over his shoulder out of the Presidential Palace and tossing Aristide onto a charter plane.

[I AM SPARTACUS]

9. well..I guessin' that Milosevic thought there was no evidence against him.

But there's seems to be quite a bit of testimony.

It's dream-world, I know...but I'd love to see Smirko in front of the int'l court. And I bet he'd sit there ALL petulant with his bottom-lip stuck out, just like Milosevic does...