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[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: D. Esser <torx@joimail.com>

Haiti Human Rights Alert: Churches Raided, Priests Arrested

Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti
P.O. Box 745, Joseph, OR 97846
(541) 432-0597, www.ijdh.org, info@ijdh.org

Haiti Human Rights Alert:  Illegal Arrest of Catholic Priest, Rev.
Gérard Jean-Juste
October 13, 2004


       On Wednesday, October 13, 2004, Haitian police forcibly
entered the Sainte Claire Catholic Church in Port-au-Prince and
arrested the Pastor, Rev. Gérard Jean-Juste, without a warrant, while
he was feeding the hungry children of his parish.  Fr. Jean-Juste is
a prominent activist for peace, justice and the rights of immigrants
in Haiti and the U.S.  There are also reports of arrests of two other
priests, Rev. Francois and Rev. Sauvagere, as well as raids on three
additional churches.

       The Sainte Claire Church is located in Petite Place Cazeau, a
poor neighborhood of Delmas, a Port-au-Prince suburb.   On
Wednesdays, Fr. Jean-Juste runs a soup kitchen that gives many area
residents, especially children, their only meal of the day.   During
the feeding program, heavily-armed men surrounded the church and
announced their intention to arrest Fr. Jean-Juste.  Some wore
uniforms of the Haitian National Police (HNP), some wore no uniforms,
and many wore masks.  The police refused to produce a warrant, and
when asked what the charge was, replied that the priest "was a threat
to public order."  Later, interim Prime Minister Gérard Latortue told
journalists there was a warrant, but could not say what the charge
was.

       When Fr. Jean-Juste refused to leave his feeding program, the
police raided the church and dragged him out of the rectory. 
Witnesses reported that the police punched the priest, and Fr.
Jean-Juste reported an injury to his foot.  He was transported to a
police station holding cell, where he is now being held incommunicado.

       Interim Prime Minister Latortue claimed he had intelligence
that Fr. Jean-Juste associated with people who were planning to
commit violence against the government later this week, and that the
Ste. Claire raid was a pre-emptive strike.

       The illegal arrest continues a month-long wave of systematic
attacks against civil society institutions, including labor unions,
radio stations, lawyers and members of Parliament, as well as lethal
police raids in poor neighborhoods.   It is particularly troubling
that the persecution extended to Fr. Jean-Juste, one of Haiti's most
persistent and influential voices for peace over the last two
decades.  The arrest shows a brazenness and disregard of Haitian and
International law not seen since the Duvalier dictatorships.

Background
A.  Fr. Jean-Juste

       Fr. Jean-Juste speaks out forcefully against all forms of
violence, from the pulpit and on his radio shows.  He spoke out
against the state-sponsored violence of the Duvalier regime, the de
facto dictatorship (1991-1994) and the Haitian army.  He also speaks
out against violence by the victims of that violence and by
supporters of Haiti's Constitutional governments.  When opposition
politicians were attacked following the April 2000 funeral of
assassinated journalist Jean-Dominique, Fr. Jean-Juste spent his
entire two-hour radio show imploring everyone to return to their
homes.

       Fr. Jean-Juste has been highly effective at fighting political
and economic violence through peaceful means.  When he was forced
into exile for criticizing the Duvalier dictatorship, Fr. Jean-Juste
retaliated with a lawsuit, winning a judgment against Jean-Claude
Duvalier in Miami Federal Court.  In 1979, he co-founded the Haitian
Refugee Center in Florida, which provided assistance to thousands of
refugees from the Duvalier regime, and fought unjust immigration
policies all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.  In Haiti, Fr.
Jean-Juste encouraged victims of the de facto  dictatorship to
organize and to force Haitian courts to deliver justice.  On August
16 of this year, Haiti's interim government held a re-trial in the
case of slain pro-democracy activist Antoine Izmery.  Although he
knew the prosecution was not serious (the New York Times called it
"Sham Justice in Haiti"), and feared arrest, Fr. Jean-Juste bravely
appeared, the only summoned witness to do so.


B.  Systematic Attacks Against Civil Society and Supporters of the
Constitutional Government

       On September 7, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
issued a statement expressing concern "over several key areas in
which the basic rights and freedoms of Haitians remain weak and
imperiled."  On September 16, Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue
lashed out at his critics during an interview on Radio Caraibes,
complaining that human rights criticism was making his relations with
donor countries difficult.  Later that day police officers raided the
offices of the Confederation of Haitian Workers (CTH) labor union and
arrested nine union members, all without a warrant. The official
justification for the arrest was that the defendants  were "close to
the Lavalas authorities."  All are still in custody as of October
13.  Hours later, masked men in military attire attacked the office
of the Committee for the Protection of the Rights of the Haitian
People (CDPH).

       On October 2, the police raided a radio station and arrested
two Senators and a former Deputy from the Fanmi Lavalas party who had
criticized the Interim Government during a radio program.  As with
today's raid on Ste. Claire's Church and the arrests at the CTH
union, the radio station arrests were done without a warrant and
"justified" outside of the judicial process with vague statements
about connections to violence.  When a lawyer, also a former Deputy,
came to represent the arrestees, he was arrested too.  The lawyer and
one of the Senators was released on October 5, the other two
legislators remain in jail as of October 13 (for more information on
these events, see www.ijdh.org).

       Fr. Jean-Juste, the nine union members and two legislators
join many pro-democracy activists and officials of Haiti's
Constitutional government in jail, including former Prime Minister
Yvon Neptune, former Minister  of the Interior Jocelerme Privert and
former Delegate Jacques Mathelier.  All are held illegally:   Neither
Prime Minister Neptune nor Minister Privert have ever been brought
before the judge who issued their arrest warrant. Mr. Mathelier was
brought before a judge, who ordered his liberation on July 12, but
prison authorities transferred Mathelier out of that judge's
jurisdiction, where he remains three months later.

       On September 30, police interrupted a legal demonstration
commemorating the anniversary of Haiti's September 30, 1991 coup
d'etat.  Human rights observers accompanying the demonstration
reported that police fired on the march, after several attempts to
disperse it failed.  On the morning of October 1, interim Prime
Minister Latortue conceded in a radio interview that the police had
shot at protesters and individuals had been killed, and indicated
that the authorities would take action against further protests.

       Latortue's announcement was followed by two weeks of police
raids in poor neighborhoods, considered to be bastions of support for
Haiti's Constitutional government.  One raid on Wednesday, October 6,
a purported arms search in the poor neighborhood of Bel-Air, yielded
seventy-five illegal arrests, but not a single weapon.  Although it
is difficult to confirm the deaths, at least two dozen people have
been killed by police and their paramilitary allies so far in October.

       The United Nations troops in Haiti have not intervened to
restrain illegal police behavior.  UN troops guarded the perimeter of
the radio station during the October 2 arrests.   According to a BBC
translation of an interview broadcast October 8 on Haiti's Radio
Metropole, the UN Commander General Augusto Heleno Ribero Pereira, in
discussing police raids in poor neighborhoods declared that "we must
kill the bandits but it will have to be the bandits only, not
everybody."

       The U.S. government has not intervened to restrain the interim
government's persecution of civil society, despite having both the
ability and the responsibility to do so.  The U.S. played a leading
role in installing interim Prime Minister Latortue after forcing out
Haiti's elected President in February.  The U.S. is currently Haiti's
largest donor and international patron.  The U.S. has not made a
single public statement urging the interim government to respect the
Constitution or refrain from persecution throughout the month-long
wave of attacks on civil society.  To the contrary, the U.S. has
provided diplomatic cover to the repression, with completely
unsubstantiated statements that the violence is being directed by
Haiti's Constitutional President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, now in
exile in South Africa.

What You Can Do

The best way for people outside of Haiti to stop the attacks against
civil society is to pressure the U.S. Government and the United
Nations to intervene to stop it.  Please call, fax or email, asking
the U.S. and the U.N. stop the attacks, and ensure that Fr.
Jean-Juste and all the other political prisoners are freed
immediately.

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT:
U.S. Ambassador to Haiti, James B. Foley
Phone: 011-509-222-0200 or 011-509-222-0354
Fax: 011-509-223-9038 or 011-509-223-1641

With copies to:
STATE DEPARTMENT HAITI DESK: Desk Phone: (202) 736-4628, Fax: (202)
647-2901
Ladd Connell - Haiti Desk Officer connellLF@state.gov
BUREAU OF WESTERN HEMISPHERIC AFFAIRS
Roger Noriega, Phone: (202) 647-5780; E-mail: noriegarf@state.gov


UNITED NATIONS:
Special UN Envoy to Haiti: Mr. Juan Gabriel Valdes
UN Military Commander in Haiti: Lt. General Augusto Heleno Ribeiro
Pereira
UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) Phone: 011-509-244-9650 or
9660
With copies to: UN Secretary-General: Kofi Annan: Fax: (212) 963-4879

For more information, and updates on this situation, see
www.ijdh.org, www.haitiaction.net.

Brian Concannon Jr.
Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti
.