Jury rules against ex-Haitian mayor, orders $15M in damages
A federal jury has ruled in favor of three men who said in a lawsuit that the former mayor of their small town in Haiti subjected them or their relatives to a campaign of political persecution that included a killing, attempted killings and torture
Three men who said they or their families were subjected to political persecution that included a killing, attempted killings and torture in their hometown in Haiti finally got justice after about 15 years on Tuesday when an American jury ruled in their favor and awarded them $15.5 million in damages.
David Boniface, Juders Ysemé and Nissage Martyr filed the civil suit against Jean Morose Viliena in in U.S. District Court in Boston in 2017 after the courts in Haiti failed to bring them justice, they said.
“I felt very happy to hear the result today, very proud that this is the result I got, and I was confident when I filed the complaint in the U.S. that I would get this result today,” Boniface said through a translator.
The suit was filed under the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991, which allows civil lawsuits to be filed in the U.S. against foreign officials who allegedly committed wrongdoing in their homeland if all legal avenues in their country have been exhausted.
