Complaints follow Haiti acquittal

Both Joanis and Chamblain had previously been found guilty of the murder

The US government and rights groups have expressed alarm at the sudden acquittal of a former paramilitary leader accused of murder in Haiti.

Louis-Jodel Chamblain was second-in-command of one of the rebel groups that forced the fall of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide earlier this year.

He was charged with the 1993 murder of Antoine Izmery, a former justice minister under Mr Aristide.

The US said it was "deeply concerned" by the brief, overnight trial.

Mr Chamblain and his co-defendant, a former police chief Jackson Joanis, were found not guilty by a 12-member jury in a trial that ran from late Monday evening until early morning Tuesday.

Both have been remanded in custody to face other charges.

"We deeply regret the haste with which their cases were brought to retrial, resulting in procedural deficiencies that call into question the integrity of the process," said US state department spokesman Adam Ereli.

This is a very sad record in the history of Haiti Amnesty International

A Haitian human rights group told AP news agency eight witnesses were called by the prosecution, but only one turned up in court, saying he knew nothing about the case.

Viles Alizar, spokesman for the National Coalition of Haitian Rights, added that the defence produced two witnesses, but they offered few details of the case.

The rights group Amnesty International called the trial a "mockery of justice" - saying "false" witnesses had been called to testify and there had been no proper preparation.

It said key witnesses were "in hiding for fear for their lives".

"This is a very sad record in the history of Haiti," it said.

But Mr Chamblain has insisted the trial was "just and equitable".

Convicted in absentia

He was co-leader of the Revolutionary Front for Haitian Advancement and Progress - known as Fraph after its initials in French - which committed human rights abuses under military rule at the beginning of the 1990s.

Both he and Joanis escaped abroad with the restoration of Mr Aristide to power in 1994. They were convicted in absentia of the murder of Izmery in 1995.

Mr Chamblain turned himself in to authorities last April, following the overthrow of Mr Aristide in February.

Under Haitian law, those convicted in absentia are entitled to a retrial once they come forward to judicial authorities.

Mr Chamblain's lawyer, Stanley Gaston, told AP that his client was expected to return to court in a month's time to face the remaining charges.