Haiti: Charges Finally Dropped Against Fr. Gerard Jean-Juste

by HaitiAnalysis

Thu, Jun 19, 2008 6:11AM

The Court of Appeal of Port-au-Prince has announced the dismissal of all remaining charges against Father Gerard Jean-Juste. The Catholic priest is a prominent supporter of Fanmi Lavalas, the political party of ousted Haitian president Jean Bertrand Aristide.

Jean-Juste was arrested by the de facto government of Gerard Latortue in July of 2005. His imprisonment was such a flagrant act of political repression that Amnesty International designated the priest a “Prisoner of Conscience”. After getting a vile of Jean-Juste's blood past Latortue's police, the well known doctor Paul Farmer (of Partners in Health) verified that jailed priest suffered from a form of lymphocytic leukemia that needed immediate treatment.

Under intense international pressure the Latortue regime granted Jean Juste “provisional freedom” in January of 2006 to to receive treatment for leukemia in the U.S. However, until the court's announcement of last week, Jean Juste continued to fend off charges of criminal association and illegal possession of firearms. No evidence had ever been produced to substantiate the allegations.

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For more information: http://haitianalysis.com/2008/6/19/charges...

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