Plaintiff in Boston lawsuit against former Haitian mayor dies
(Reuters) - One of three Haitian men who recently sued the former mayor of their village accusing him in Boston federal court of murdering, torturing and burning the homes of his political opponents has died, his attorney said on Saturday.
Nissage Martyr, a plaintiff in the lawsuit filed Thursday against ex-mayor Jean Morose Viliena, fell suddenly ill while watching football with neighbours Friday night in Les Irois, a town on Haiti’s far western coast, and died on the way to hospital.
Lawyers for the three plaintiffs said Viliena now works as a school bus driver and lives in Malden, Massachusetts, where he fled after Haitian courts began investigating his conduct while in office.
“Our heartfelt condolences go out to Martyr’s family and friends. We call on the government of Haiti to expeditiously and completely investigate to determine the cause of Martyr’s death,” Scott Gilmore, Martyr’s attorney from the Center for Justice and Accountability, said in a statement. Lawyers from the San Francisco-based human rights organization said they filed the civil lawsuit on Thursday seeking unspecified monetary damages in Boston because Viliena had not been convicted or prosecuted in his native Haiti.
The lawsuit said Viliena, backed by an armed militia, committed human rights abuses by routinely using violence against perceived political opponents or people who complained about how he governed Les Irois, a town of about 22,300 people. The opening lasts for 1 1/2 hours