"The assassination of Me Dorval saddens the whole Republic. A man of great culture. A great loss for the country. I address to the members of the Bar Association of Port-au-Prince and to his relatives, my most sincere condolences. This crime, like so many others, will not go unpunished "reacted the Haitian President, Jovenel Moïse, Saturday morning on Twitter after the announcement of the death of the president of the bar of Port-au-Prince, assassinated in the night from Friday to Saturday.
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Shot dead on arrival at his home
According to the first indications of the Haitian National Police (PNH), Me Monferrier Dorval was shot dead on his arrival at his home, on the heights of the capital. "It seems that he was killed when he was about to close his barrier," said the deputy spokesperson for the PNH. "We cannot yet say how many attackers there were or what vehicles they had," he replied.
The photo of the body of the bloody lawyer, riddled with bullets, quickly circulated via social networks in Haiti sparking the anger and indignation of citizens. The upsurge in insecurity and impunity have been denounced for several months by various civil society and human rights organizations.
Gang-related violence: 159 people killed in six months
On Thursday, a businessman was shot dead in his vehicle in the heart of the capital at midday without the perpetrators of the attack being able to be identified or arrested. The police had not drawn up a security cordon, leaving onlookers to press against the car.
At the end of June and beginning of July, two peaceful demonstrations organized in the capital to denounce this climate of insecurity had been forcefully repressed by the police. Gang members then marched through the streets of downtown Port-au-Prince, showing off their weapons and firing regularly in the air. No police unit had then intervened to interrupt this march, broadcast live on social networks by some participants.
Committed three weeks apart in mid-July and early August, the gunshot murders of two infants, aged 4 and 8 months, sent shock waves across the country. Investigations to identify the perpetrators of the crimes have not yet been completed. Between January and June 2020, the United Nations office in Haiti noted that at least 159 people had been killed and 92 others injured due to gang violence.