Ex-Haitian mayor who was discovered accountable for murder charged with mendacity on utility to develop into US resident

A former Haitian mayor was criminally charged Wednesday with mendacity on his utility to develop into a authorized resident of the U.S., simply someday after he was discovered accountable for a killing and two tried slayings in his homeland.

Jean Morose Viliena, 50, was indicted on three counts of visa fraud, in line with the U.S. legal professional’s workplace in Boston. Conviction on the cost carries a sentence of as much as 10 years in jail.

“Gaining lawful entry into our nation is a privilege, not a proper,” U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins stated in an announcement. “Our nation presents safety, help and asylum to those that are persecuted. People that perpetrate acts of violence and hurt — after which allegedly lie about their conduct to U.S. immigration officers — of their nations should not welcome right here.”

An e mail in search of remark was despatched to Viliena’s legal professional.

Viliena went to the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in June 2008 to use for a visa that will achieve him entry to the U.S., federal prosecutors stated.

When requested on the appliance type whether or not he was excluded from admission to the U.S. for having “ordered, carried out or materially assisted in extrajudicial and political killings and different acts of violence towards the Haitian individuals,” he stated he was not, prosecutors stated.

FORMER HAITI MAYOR ACCUSED OF TORTURING, KILLING HIS POLITICAL OPPONENTS HEADS TO COURT IN BOSTON

He then swore that his utility was true and signed it, authorities stated. The visa was authorised the subsequent day. He moved to the U.S. in July 2008 and was granted a Permanent Resident Card, also called a inexperienced card.

Viliena has been residing in Malden, simply north of Boston, authorities stated.

But federal prosecutors allege that whereas mayor of the city of Les Irois — a neighborhood of about 22,000 on Haiti’s western tip — Viliena was concerned in acts of violence towards political foes.

In 2007, prosecutors stated, he led a gaggle of his allies to the house of a political opponent, the place he and his associates shot and killed the opponent’s youthful brother, then smashed his cranium with a rock.

Prosecutors additionally allege that in 2008, Viliena and his allies went armed with weapons, machetes, picks and sledgehammers to a neighborhood radio station that he against shut it down. He allegedly pistol-whipped and punched a person and ordered an affiliate to shoot and kill the person and one different individual.

Former Haitian Mayor Jean Morose Viliena departs federal court docket on March 20, 2023, in Boston. Viliena has been criminally charged with mendacity on his utility to develop into a United States citizen. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Both survived, however one of many males misplaced a leg and the opposite was blinded in a single eye.

Viliena was discovered liable by an American jury in a civil trial on Tuesday for his function within the killing and the 2 tried killings and assessed $15.5 million in compensatory and punitive damages.

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The go well with was filed by the San Francisco-based Center for Justice and Accountability on behalf of David Boniface, Juders Ysemé and Nissage Martyr in Boston in 2017. Nissage Martyr died, and his son, Nissandère Martyr, changed him as a plaintiff.

The go well with was filed underneath the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991, which permits lawsuits to be filed within the U.S. towards international officers who allegedly dedicated wrongdoing of their homeland if all authorized avenues of their nation have been exhausted.

“The Center for Justice and Accountability welcomes motion by the Justice Department however requires human rights legal costs to be introduced given the robust proof offered towards Viliena for torture and different abuses throughout the civil trial,” the middle stated in an announcement Wednesday.

The middle additionally known as on the State Department, the U.S. Embassy in Haiti, and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to work with the federal government of Haiti to make sure the protection of their purchasers and relations, who’ve been subjected to retaliation and intimidation.

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Boniface, Ysemé and Martyr proceed to reside in hiding and stated in statements Wednesday that whereas happy with Viliena’s arrest, they’re involved about their households.

Martyr’s mom and sisters nonetheless reside in Les Irois.

“His associates in Les Irois have stated that if Jean Morose Viliena is arrested, what they’ve finished earlier than might be nothing in comparison with what they may do now,” Martyr stated in an announcement that was translated from Haitian Creole into English. “They stated they may burn town of Les Irois and the households of the individuals who sought justice.”