27457: (news) Chamberlain: Haiti-Jailed Priest (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By JENNIFER KAY

   MIAMI, Feb 3 (AP) -- A Roman Catholic priest who was jailed in Haiti for
his political activities thanked his supporters for pressuring the
country's government to release him so he could be treated for leukemia.
   The Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste was discharged Friday from Jackson Memorial
Hospital.
   "I had the choice to stay in jail in Haiti and die, but your pressure,
your prayers have been answered," said Jean-Juste, who had a visible biopsy
scar on his neck and had to be helped from a wheelchair to speak at a news
conference at the hospital.
   Jean-Juste was hospitalized Sunday after arriving in Miami. He had been
imprisoned in Haiti since July on suspicion of involvement in the killing
of prominent Haitian journalist and poet Jacques Roche. The priest, who
turns 60 on Tuesday, has always denied the allegations.
   Mario Joseph, Jean-Juste's Port-au-Prince attorney, said through an
interpreter that his client can stay as long as he is following treatment.
Doctors said Jean-Juste, who has permanent residency here, will undergo six
months of chemotherapy.
   "He has the best kind of blood condition we can control. I'm very, very
optimistic," said Dr. Yeon Soong Ahn, of the University of Miami Miller
School of Medicine.
   A judge cleared Jean-Juste of homicide, but he is charged with weapons
possession and criminal conspiracy -- charges the priest denies.
   Amnesty International has labeled Jean-Juste "a prisoner of conscience."
He has drawn comparisons to ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide for his
impassioned sermons and advocacy for the poor and has emerged as a
prominent figure in the exiled leader's Lavalas Family party.
   Jean-Juste said he is closely watching the country's upcoming elections
and is optimistic about them.
   "Let us pray that most of us Haitians use our voting power to freely
elect a president and move on," he said.