A former mayor of a tiny town in Haiti was detained in the United States on charges of visa fraud. A day after he was ordered to pay $15.5 million to settle allegations that he coordinated a campaign of murder. He was also accused of other acts of violence against his political opponents.
Jean Morose Viliena, 50, illegally obtained a green card allowing him to remain permanently in the United States. This is according to federal prosecutors in Boston.
Prosecutors allege that after being elected mayor of Les Irois, Haiti, for a four-year term in December 2006. He actively committed or ordered the maiming, damage, humiliation, or murder of his adversaries.
He was granted a visa in 2008 after applying for one. Now, he is a truck driver operating out of his new home in Malden, Massachusetts. He stayed quiet despite numerous efforts to reach Viliena’s counsel.
Viliena was charged after a jury awarded $15.5 million to three Haitians who alleged he mistreated them or their families during his tenure as mayor. David Boniface, Juders Yseme, and Nissage Martir were the plaintiffs.
The lawsuit was filed in 2017 under the Torture Victim Protection Act, which allows U.S. citizens to sue foreign authorities accused of extrajudicial killings or torture when domestic remedies have failed.
Plaintiffs allege that in 2007, Viliena gathered a group of armed men who assaulted Boniface and killed his brother, and that in 2008, she assembled a gang who attacked Martyr and Yseme at a community radio station and murdered both of them.
Martyr’s leg was severed, and Yseme’s sight became blind. In 2017, Martyr died after a protracted legal struggle. His son has assumed his role as plaintiff.
