Saturday, May 23 in the morning, the Petit-Goâve Police arrested 18 members of the Foyer Spirituel des Consciences Unies (FOSCU) who were doing physical exercises of relaxation and meditation at their premises without wearing masks.

Justice of the Peace Me Valembrun Jasmin, hearded the people arrested at the Petit-Goâve Police Station, in the presence of the Deputy of the Government Commissioner, Me Franck Bênêche.

In the minutes, the Magistrate Jasmin took over the presidential decree setting the general rules for the protection of the population and the sanctions https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30843-haiti-flash-presidential-decree-setting-the-general-rules-for-protecting-the-population-from-covid-19.html and condemned, in accordance with the prescriptions of the said decree, the 3 "leaders" of the Group to pay a collective fine of 9,000 gourdes.

Judge Valembrun Jasmin released the 18 people while asking them to report to the Town Hall next Monday, which in turn will determine the work of general interest to do. Note that each of these people received a mask at the police station.

Me Franck Bénêche, declared on the microphone of Radio preference "As soon as we were informed of the meeting of this Group, we quickly intervened. We arrested and took 18 people to the police station. We have appealed to the Justice of the Peace in order to constitute a simple police tribunal. The court rendered its decision and condemned only the 3 leaders of the Group to pay 3,000 Gourdes each as a fine. The other members were exempted from this sanction. We thus acted in order to protect them and at the same time protect those around them from the Covid-19 [...]"

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30849-haiti-flash-53-new-cases-and-136-suspected-cases-in-24-hours.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30847-haiti-covid-19-daily-report-may-23-2020.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-30843-haiti-flash-presidential-decree-setting-the-general-rules-for-protecting-the-population-from-covid-19.html

HL/ HaitiLibre / Guyto Mathieu (Petit-Goâve Correspondent)