PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The media watchdog group SOS Journalists on Friday sharply criticized Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council (TPC) and Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé’s administration for failing to meet guarantees made to injured journalist Jocelyn Justin, who stays in Cuba awaiting surgical procedure.
“As soon as once more, and sadly, the authorities have failed to meet their commitments, together with the one made very lately, to supply the ailing journalist with lodging in Cuba, meals, and medical bills important for his restoration,” the group stated in a strongly worded assertion.
Justin, whose decrease jaw was shattered when he was shot throughout a gang assault on December 24, 2024, close to the Basic Hospital in Port-au-Prince, has been present process therapy in Cuba. The identical assault killed three folks, together with two journalists, and left 10 others injured.
In line with SOS Journalists, Justin’s case now hangs within the steadiness for need of lower than US$2,000 — the estimated quantity wanted to cowl the remaining value of his keep and therapy. The group expressed frustration and disbelief that the Haitian authorities couldn’t mobilize such a modest sum.
“The federal government can not declare that it lacks the means to fulfill this requirement,” SOS Journalists acknowledged. “We remorse having to revisit this challenge, which we thought had been resolved.”
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The group additionally condemned what it described because the “habits of the chief authorities, who look like appearing in dangerous religion within the case of Justin, who finds himself in a really delicate scenario in Cuba.”
It stated that solely days earlier, the federal government had promised that each one crucial help for Justin’s restoration can be supplied.
“SOS Journalists calls on the Transitional Presidential Council and the federal government of Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé to honor their commitments and act instantly to treatment this drawback, permitting the journalist to obtain therapy, meals, and the acquisition of the remedy he wants,” the assertion continued.
Reporters With out Borders (RSF), which has additionally been monitoring the case, has referred to as for pressing worldwide help to assist shield journalists and defend press freedom in Haiti.
RSF famous that journalism within the nation is within the grip of an unprecedented disaster, pushed by escalating felony violence. No less than six journalists have been killed since 2022 in reference to their work.
