24 December 2024 | RSF
Markenzy Nathoux shot dead covering hospital reopening in Port-au-Prince
Shooting
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reiterates the need for urgent action by Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council, with international support, to protect journalists and the right to information, after an armed gang opened fire on reporters covering the reopening of a hospital, killing two and wounding seven others, amid a continuing security crisis.
Haiti’s media professionals sustained this appalling toll shortly before midday on 24 December at the entrance to the Haitian State University Hospital (HUEH) in the centre of the capital, Port-au-Prince, when gang members in nearby buildings opened fire with automatic weapons on reporters, medical personnel and officials who were awaiting the arrival of a government motorcade for the official reopening ceremony.
Journalists Markenzy Nathoux and Jimmy Jean were killed and Petyon Robens, Réginald Baltazar, Miracle Velondie, Florise Deronvil, Jean-Jack Aspèges, Jocelyn Justin and Rosemond Vernet were injured in the attack, in which a policeman was also killed. Video posted on social media shows police officers trying to remove the dead and wounded while under heavy fire from the gang members.
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