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| Former Haitian Para-Military Leader Could Serve Decades In Jail |
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CaribWorldNews, BROOKLYN, NY, Weds. Oct. 29, 2008:
The once feared leader of the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti could spend up to 37 years in jail for charges relating to a mortgage fraud scheme.
Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Abraham G. Gerges on Tuesday sentenced Emmanuel `Toto` Constant in a mortgage fraud scheme in Brooklyn that cheated lenders out of $1.7 million. Constant, who was convicted of a million-dollar mortgage fraud scheme earlier this year, received two consecutive 5-15 year sentences for two of the most serious charges, as well as a consecutive two and one-third to seven year sentence, and three concurrent one and one-third to four year sentences.
Constant, who appeared in court wearing glasses and a dark suit yesterday, reiterated his innocence and said he was not a leader of the mortgage fraud scheme. He also referred to his past and said he never ordered any acts of violence in Haiti.
`FRAPH in French means knock,` he told the judge. `From Matthew 7:7. Knock and they will open. It doesn’t mean hit.`
But Justice Gerges was not swayed and told Constant that mortgage fraud was `not a victimless crime` and that his past included `heinous` acts.
After fleeing Haiti for this country, he embarked on another life of crime,` said Justice Gerges. `It is evident he will continue to flout the law if given the opportunity.`
Human rights groups have alleged that between 1991 and 1994 FRAPH terrorized and slaughtered Haitian slum-dwellers loyal to former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Center for Constitutional Rights Senior Attorney, Jennie Green, expressed glee with the verdict. The Center had collected hundreds of letters asking the judge to take into account Constant’s history in Haiti in determining the sentence.
`We are glad that Toto Constant will finally serve time for some of his crimes. The sentence was far greater than the minimum plea bargain initially offered, and we are pleased the judge took Constant’s crimes against the people of Haiti into account,` said Green.
`One day, when the Haitian government and courts are in the position to hold him accountable, Constant will return to Haiti to be tried for murder, rape and other torture in his campaign of terror as head of a paramilitary death squad. Until that time, we strongly urge the U.S. not to deport him until Haiti has a judicial system in place capable of trying him and a prison system capable of holding him.`
According to the U.S. State Department’s own reports, as the leader of the paramilitary group, Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti (FRAPH), Constant was responsible for murder, rape, and other torture of thousands of Haitians in the early 1990’s.
Constant fled Haiti to the U.S. in 1994 when a Haitian court issued a warrant for his arrest. From 1996 until his arrest here for mortgage fraud in 2006, Constant lived freely in Queens, despite international outcry and extradition requests from Haiti for his crimes against humanity.
In 2004, CCR and CJA filed a federal suit against Constant on behalf of three women who survived FRAPH’s campaign of violence against women. The court found Constant liable for torture, including rape; attempted extrajudicial killing; and crimes against humanity, and he was ordered to pay $19 million in damages. Nevertheless, Constant has continued to deny culpability and refuses to comply with the order. In late July 2008, a U.S. federal court rejected attempts by Constant to have a 2004 case against him dismissed and the $19 million judgment for victims revoked.
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