Former mayor sued over human rights abuses

Three Haitian nationals sued the former mayor of their rural village on Thursday, accusing him in Boston federal court of murdering, torturing and burning the homes of his political opponents.

Lawyers for the three plaintiffs said the ex-mayor, Jean Morose Viliena, now works as a school bus driver and lives in Malden, Massachusetts, where he fled to after Haitian courts began investigating his conduct while in office. The lawyers, who are with the Center for Justice and Accountability, said they filed a civil lawsuit seeking unspecified monetary damages in Boston because Viliena had not been convicted or prosecuted in his native Haiti.

“He fled from Haitian justice, he fled from the courts, he fled from years of our clients’ efforts to have him prosecuted in Haiti, and he found safety in the Boston suburbs,” said Scott Gilmore, a lawyer with the center.