PORT AU PRINCE, Haiti – Judge Bernard Saint-Vil of Haiti cleared Jim Allen and the nine other Americans currently being held in the Caribbean nation, though no release date has been set.
Although all the information gathered by the US State Department and the Haitian judge exonerates Jim Allen, he is still imprisoned indefinitely in a jail in Haiti. In regard to the news of exoneration, Reginald Brown and Jennifer O’Connor, both of WilmerHale and part of the legal team working toward Mr. Allen’s release, gave the following statement:
“We are heartened by today’s timely actions by Haitian Judge Bernard Saint-Vil. We hope the prosecutor and other senior Haitian officials will now quickly conclude that Jim Allen should be released”. “It is the right and humane thing to do”. “Jim Allen came to Haiti to help, and did so in good faith. It is now time to bring Jim home”, says a representative of Liberty Legal Institute.
No one benefits when relief volunteers languish in prison for weeks on end under conditions that are, at best, difficult. Haitian and U.S. officials must bring this misunderstanding to a prompt end so that Americans and Haitians can return to the important task of relief and rebuilding.
