Aristide lawyer claims he was kidnapped by US

(10 Mar 2004) Roissy, France - 10 March 2004 1. Pan shot of interior of Charles de Gaulle airport to group of press and Brian Concannon, a US lawyer representing ousted Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide 2. Mid shot Concannon and press 3. SOUNDBITE (English) Brian Concannon, lawyer for Jean-Bertrand Aristide "There has already been a letter filed in the US with the Attorney-General demanding an investigation into the kidnapping. There has been a letter filed with Inter-American Commission on Human Rights requesting an immediate mission to Haiti in order to investigate the kidnapping and to investigate the other human rights violations in Haiti which include people who have already been convicted of mass human rights violations who now are exercising power and doing the same violations they did the last time they were in power. There is also in the US, there are preparations for a kidnapping case against the American authorities." 4. Press pan to Concannon 5. SOUNDBITE (French) Brian Concannon, lawyer for Jean-Bertrand Aristide: "I represent here today Gilbert Collard, a French lawyer. He asked me to explain to you that he is preparing a legal suit for kidnapping against the French authorities, including two French ambassadors, Yves Gaudel and Thierry Burkard, and also against Regis Debray and Veronique de Villepin." 6. Cutaway 7. SOUNDBITE (English) Brian Concannon, lawyer for Jean-Bertrand Aristide: "The letter that was signed by the president was signed under the explicit, was signed under the duress of violence, and under the threats of more violence, including violence that had already happened: the killing of many police officers, the killing of many government supporters and the threats of continued killing of President's supporters of the president himself and of his family." (Reporter: Was president Aristide physically threatened at that time?) "Yes he was." (Reporter: How?) "In the sense that the ambassadors of France and the US told him that he would be killed, his family would be killed and his supporters would be killed if he did not leave right away." 8. Cutaway 9. SOUNDBITE (French) Brian Concannon, lawyer for Jean-Bertrand Aristide: "Both the ambassadors, the American and French ambassadors, explicitly said they would do nothing to prevent the bloodshed, that they would do nothing to support democracy, and the only thing they were ready to do was to help the president to leave the country if he signed the document." 10. Cutaway 11. SOUNDBITE (French) Brian Concannon, lawyer for Jean-Bertrand Aristide: "The question of witnesses is an interesting one, because he (Aristide) had, I think 19... I think he had 19 private presidential bodyguards from the Steel Foundation, and they were also forced to get on the plane bound for the Central African Republic, and then to return, and the clear purpose of this was to prevent them from talking immediately about what happened." 12. Cutaway 13. SOUNDBITE (English) Brian Concannon, lawyer for Jean-Bertrand Aristide: "One thing I need to add to what Kim said about US support for this coup: 15 months ago, the US gave 20-thousand M-16 rifles to the Dominican military, and that's a military that does not have any internal or external enemies. It was already armed to the teeth. And they gave them 20-thousand M-16s. The US military officials have since in the last week, they have admitted that many of those guns have in fact got into the hands of the rebels." 14. Pan from airport flights screen to Concannon looking at papers FILE: Central African Republic, recent 15. Aristide enters room STORYLINE: Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...