25988: Wharram (news) Prominent Catholic priest jailed in Haiti collapses in cell (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: bruce.wharram@sev.org


Article published Aug 16, 2005
Prominent Catholic priest jailed in Haiti collapses in cell

By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU
Associated Press Writer

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti A prominent Catholic priest who has been jailed for
nearly a month collapsed in his cell and had to receive medical treatment,
his lawyer said Tuesday.

The Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste, a prominent figure in the party of ousted
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and a possible presidential candidate,
passed out for 20 minutes Sunday at Haiti's National Penitentiary, Bill
Quigley, Jean-Juste's American lawyer, told reporters.

Quigley said Jean-Juste had been sweating profusely before collapsing in his
cell, which the lawyer described as hot and dirty.

Several other inmates carried Jean-Juste to the prison infirmary, where he
was treated for an unknown ailment, Quigley said.

Quigley said he visited the 57-year-old priest earlier Tuesday and found him
"very weakened." He produced a letter from Jean-Juste, in which the priest
said he almost died from the incident, without giving details.

"I almost died Sunday morning. I fell unconscious for some time but was
rescued when some of the other prisoners took me on their backs to the
dispensary," the letter said.

Jean-Juste, once as prominent in the Haitian community in South Florida
before he returned home, was detained July 21 as he tried to attend the
funeral of slain journalist Jacques Roche. He was mobbed by protesters who
accused the priest of involvement in the killing. Police said he was
detained because of the "public clamor" for his arrest by the angry
demonstrators.

The director of Haiti's National Penitentiary, Voltaire Spady, said he had
no report of Jean-Juste collapsing.

"Not even the dispensary has sent me a report, so I consider all this to be
untrue," Spady said in a telephone interview.

He acknowledged Jean-Juste's cell might be hot, but insisted the priest's
living conditions were better than most other inmates.

Police say they're investigating Jean-Juste for weapons possession,
kidnapping and murder, but have yet to charge him with a crime.

The priest, who was in the United States when Roche was kidnapped in
Port-au-Prince on July 10, has denied any connection to the abduction and
slaying.