Politician subpoenaed in Haiti journalist's death

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (Reuters) -- A Haitian senator-elect was subpoenaed for questioning on Thursday in the investigation into the killing of a prominent radio journalist.

Sen.-elect Dany Toussaint was among nearly a dozen people subpoenaed by a judge probing the death of broadcaster Jean Dominique, 69, fatally shot from ambush in April.

Toussaint has not been charged in connection with Dominique's death, and there was no indication why he was subpoenaed. The journalist had sharply criticized Toussaint in a broadcast shortly before he was killed.

Toussaint denied any involvement in the crime on Thursday and promised to work to solve it after he is inaugurated into Parliament. No date has been set for his swearing in.

"I'm going to work to bring justice for Jean Dominique," Toussaint said.

He also denied U.S. government allegations that had links to Haiti's booming drug trade, saying, "The only drug I take is the Haitian people."

Toussaint was one of two senators from the ruling Lavalas Family party elected from the West Department, which includes the capital, Port-au-Prince, in parliamentary elections on May 21. International observers and opposition party members have criticized the elections for alleged irregularities.

Dominique, a longtime democracy activist and adviser to President Rene Preval, was shot and killed by unknown assailants as he arrived for his morning newscast at Radio Haiti Inter on April 3. A security guard was also killed.

Dominique's critical political commentaries had earned him enemies across the political spectrum, and his murder sent Haitians into shock and raised fears of spiraling violence before the parliamentary vote.

Dominique's wife and radio co-host, Michele Montas, has said the motive for her husband's death was not clear and those behind it unknown.

Toussaint, a former army major who headed Haiti's police force in 1995, is a close friend of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and joined him in exile in the United States after Aristide was ousted in a 1991 military coup.

Aristide, Haiti's first freely elected president, was restored by a U.S.-led invasion force in 1994.

Haiti's government has been paralyzed for much of the last three years after elections held in April 1997 were declared fraudulent. Preval dissolved Parliament in early 1999 and has ruled by decree since.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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