Shake-up in Haitian Supreme Court

Alfred de Montesquiou

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Haiti’s interim government said Friday it has removed five of the 10 judges from the Supreme Court, another move in a tense power struggle ahead of next month’s national elections.

The decision came a day after the court ruled to uphold an earlier decision allowing a Haitian-born U.S. multimillionaire to run for president in his native country.

Michel Brunache, chief of staff for interim President Boniface Alexandre, said the government’s decision to retire the judges was made long ago. It was signed during a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday and five new judges have been nominated.

“This is a purely administrative measure, to improve the efficiency of the court,” Brunache told The Associated Press.

The interim government, in power since a bloody rebellion ousted Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February 2004, has been intent on preventing the candidacy of the U.S. businessman Dumarsais Simeus, on grounds that it could create a political crisis.

Though the constitution does not allow dual citizenship, the Supreme Court ruled in October that authorities had not proven that Simeus was a U.S. citizen and said he should run.

The interim government later created a nationality commission that excluded Simeus from the list of 35 candidates allowed to run for president. The Supreme Court’s upholding of its earlier ruling on Thursday was seen by some observers as a blow to the government’s decision.

Two of the five retired judges were part of the five-judge panel that had unanimously ruled in favor of Simeus in their decision published on Thursday.

“This is a purely arbitrary measure,” retired Supreme Court judge Michel Donatien told The Associated Press.

Donatien said he had been working at the court until earlier Friday and had learned about his retirement via the media. He questioned the interim president’s right to retire judges since he was not elected to office.

Simeus, 65, the son of illiterate rice farmers, left Haiti at the age of 21 for the United States., where he became the multimillionaire owner of Simeus Foods in Texas.

The first electoral poll in Haiti, published Friday, stated he was the Haitians’ second favorite choice for president, behind front-runner Rene Preval. The two polled far ahead of the other candidates.

(Associated Press)