27317: Chamberlain (news) Haiti priest to remain jailed; fears for his life (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Jan 22 (Reuters) - A jailed Haitian priest and
former adviser to ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide says he was
cleared of murder but indicted on weapons charges in a bid to keep him in
prison and out of politics.
     Popular Roman Catholic priest Gerard Jean-Juste has been jailed for
more than six months by Haiti's interim government, which accused him of
involvement in the July killing of prominent journalist Jacques Roche.
     In a telephone interview from his prison cell late on Saturday,
Jean-Juste told Reuters a judge cleared him of the murder late last week
but indicted him instead on illegal weapon and "criminal gang" activity
charges.
     Jean-Juste also denies the new accusations and says he desperately
needs medical attention to treat his leukemia.
     "My life is in danger. I've lost consciousness several times. I'm in a
very bad shape," he said. "I hope the government will give me the
permission to travel to get medical treatment, because such treatment is
not available in Haiti."
     Amnesty International calls Jean-Juste a prisoner of conscience jailed
for expressing his views and members of the U.S. Congress have also called
for his release.
     Widely viewed as the natural successor to fellow priest Aristide, who
was ousted by an armed revolt in February 2004, Jean-Juste said the
government had always wanted to jail him because they believed he wanted to
become president. He denies any presidential ambitions, however.
     A presidential election was originally scheduled for November. It is
now due to take place on Feb. 7 after repeated delays caused by
incompetence, violence and logistical problems in the poorest country in
the Americas.
     Jean-Juste, who served as a spiritual adviser to Aristide and was
deeply involved in his Lavalas movement, said he would fight the new
charges.
     "I absolutely have nothing to do with criminal gang activities. I've
never carried a weapon, I've never used one and I don't have weapons," he
said.
     Weapons and violence have proliferated in Haiti as it lurches toward
its first national elections since 2000. The country, which shares the
Caribbean island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic, is patrolled by
United Nations peacekeepers and still struggling to establish a stable
democracy after decades of dictatorship and military rule.
     Once a hero of Haitian democracy, Aristide was accused of despotism
and corruption in his second term and was forced into exile in South
Africa. A Haitian council of elders appointed an interim government under
Gerard Latortue, a Florida business consultant and former U.N. official who
became prime minister and has ruled without a parliament.
     Jean-Juste noted that presidential candidate Dany Toussaint had
recently been caught carrying an illegal weapon but was allowed to go free.
     "In Dany Toussaint's case, the corpus delicti was there, they let him
go anyway," he said. "In my case there is no corpus delicti, but they want
to keep me in jail."