[Update: F. Juste has been detained, articles below including by
Quigley.  From the AP:
"The Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste was mobbed and punched by angry
demonstrators at the funeral for Jacques Roche before he was taken
away by police. Jean-Juste was questioned for several hours before his
arrest, said the lawyer, Bill Quigley.

But the head of Haiti's judicial police, Michael Lucius, said
Jean-Juste had only been questioned and detained and that it would be
up to prosecutors to decide whether the priest should face criminal
charges."]

Please find below an article by Brian Concannon about the upcoming
elections in Haiti and the rule of law.  Also find another excellent
interview on Democracy Now!, this one with F. Jean Juste.  F. Juste
describes his interactions witht he police and judge, his support for
Neptune, the Roche funeral, and his take on protests and the current
regime's approach of blaming Lavalas for current problems.

Regards,

Jens

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N22242624.htm

Jailed Haitian priest denies role in killing

22 Jul 2005 23:30:21 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Joseph Guyler Delva

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, July 22 (Reuters) - A popular Haitian priest
arrested on suspicion he was involved in the killing of a journalist,
denied on Friday he had anything to do with the slaying and accused
the government of persecuting him.

The Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste, a prominent supporter and close friend of
ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, said his arrest on Thursday
after the funeral of Jacques Roche, a journalist with the daily
newspaper Le Matin who was kidnapped and killed last week, was
politically motivated.

"I was not even in Haiti when Jacques was kidnapped and killed. I was
in the U.S. I am 100 percent innocent," Jean-Juste said from his jail
cell.

Jean-Juste, a Roman Catholic priest and a leading figure in Aristide's
Lavalas Family party who was imprisoned for seven weeks last year, was
jailed on Thursday after he tried to take part in Roche's funeral. At
the service, a government minister blamed Aristide supporters for the
killing.

"I have a cousin that married one of his (Roche's) relatives,"
Jean-Juste said from his jail cell. "I wanted to pay tribute to him
because I was so touched by his assassination."

Human rights groups have repeatedly criticized Haiti's U.S.-backed
interim government, installed after Aristide's ouster in February
2004, of persecuting Aristide followers.

Government officials were not immediately available for comment on
Friday, but interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue has denied any
political persecutions by his government against opponents.

Roche, the culture and society section chief at Le Matin, was tortured
and killed last week after being kidnapped on July 10. His battered
body was found on a street in Port-au-Prince.

Jean-Juste alleged a pattern of harassment by Haitian authorities,
saying he was questioned by police when he returned to Haiti last
Friday but was released because "they did not find anything. They had
to let me go."

Three days after his return, a judge issued a summons ordering him to
answer allegations he was plotting against state security.

"The judge could not find anything against me, because it was totally
unfounded," he said.

Jean-Juste was taken from his church last October while he was feeding
street children and was jailed for nearly seven weeks. His
imprisonment rallied to his side human rights groups, including
Amnesty International, which called on the Haitian government to
improve its human rights record.

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americas/07/22/haiti.priest.ap/

Haitian priest held in death of journalist

Friday, July 22, 2005 Posted: 1624 GMT (0024 HKT)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- A Roman Catholic priest who has emerged
as a leader of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's party was
arrested Thursday for the murder of a prominent journalist hours after
demonstrators at the man's funeral called for the priest's arrest, his
lawyer said.

The Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste was mobbed and punched by angry
demonstrators at the funeral for Jacques Roche before he was taken
away by police. Jean-Juste was questioned for several hours before his
arrest, said the lawyer, Bill Quigley.

But the head of Haiti's judicial police, Michael Lucius, said
Jean-Juste had only been questioned and detained and that it would be
up to prosecutors to decide whether the priest should face criminal
charges.

Lucius said that police questioned Jean-Juste not just about the Roche
killing but about allegations that he illegally possessed weapons
acquired while Aristide was still president -- and that he could be
charged in either case Friday.

"I think that with the material we will provide against him, he will
be indicted," Lucius said.

Earlier, he said that authorities questioned Jean-Juste in the slaying
of Roche because the accusations of protesters at the funeral amounted
to a "public clamor" that justified an investigation under Haitian
law.

Jean-Juste, who has not ruled out a run for the presidency and has
been detained by Haitian authorities in the past, earlier denied any
involvement in the slaying of the journalist. Roche's brutal death
five days after he was abducted in the capital has come to symbolize
for many the extreme violence that dominates life in Port-au-Prince.

"I'm a priest, I get beaten in a church, and now it's me they want to
arrest," Jean-Juste told The Associated Press by phone from the police
station before his arrest.

His lawyer said that Jean-Juste was not in Haiti when Roche was killed
and that he is a distant cousin of the journalist.

Roche headed the cultural section of Le Matin newspaper and moderated
a talk show on a local TV station. His body was found handcuffed and
showed signs of torture, including burn marks.

Interim Haitian officials have accused supporters of ousted Aristide
of involvement in Roche's killing, though they have not offered proof.
They also claim that armed gangs that back the former president's
party, Lavalas, are behind much of the kidnappings and other violence
in the country, the poorest in the Western Hemisphere.

Speaking during the funeral for Roche, interim Culture Minister
Magalie Comeau-Denis called Jean-Juste "a symbol of the reign of
violence in Haiti."

Aristide was ousted in a February 2004 armed revolt. More than 700
people have been killed in the capital since September, when loyalists
of the former president stepped up protests to demand his return from
exile in South Africa.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

http://www.counterpunch.org/concannon07212005.html

July 21, 2005

Time for a Reality Check

Haiti's Elections

By  BRIAN CONCANNON, Jr.

Three  days this month in strife-torn Haiti should have sufficed to
show José Miguel Insulza, the brand new Secretary-General  of the
Organization of American States (OAS), that something  is very wrong
with both Haiti and his predecessors' Haiti policy.  But instead of
using the OAS helm change and the visit to set  a new course, Mr.
Insulza recommitted the organization to its  current failures, at the
expense of Haiti's long-suffering citizenry.

Normally, five Haitians asked  almost any question about politics will
give at least that many  different responses. But today almost anyone
asked whether they  are better off than they were before Haiti's
regime change sixteen  months ago will answer a resounding no. Poor
urban dwellers will  complain about regular, deadly police raids in
their neighborhoods  and even more deadly rises in food costs; middle
class professionals  will protest the kidnapping epidemic (seven
reported kidnappings  last Monday alone); wealthy importers will
grumble that customers  who survive the trip to the store cannot
afford to buy much. Supporters of the Lavalas movement, which has won
every Haitian election by a landslide for fifteen years, will mention
the dozen or so top leaders, and hundreds of supporters, who  have
been illegally arrested or imprisoned.

The OAS, however, has found  very little fault with the unelected,
unconstitutional Interim  Haitian Government, despite a chorus of
reports, from Amnesty  International, the Harvard and the University
of Miami Law Schools,  and the Committee to Protect Journalists, among
others, documenting  police massacres, political arrests and attacks
against journalists.

Haiti's coup d'etat in February  2004 provided the OAS an historic
opportunity to implement its  own principles and stand up for
democracy in the hemisphere.  The organization had a new, potentially
effective tool in the  Inter-American Democratic Charter, which
promised that "an  unconstitutional alteration of the constitutional
regime"  is an "insurmountable obstacle" to a country's OAS
participation. The Charter allows the organization to respond  with
measures "to foster the restoration of democracy,"  including
suspending undemocratic members.

But when almost half of the  OAS' thirty-four members- the fourteen
member Caribbean Community  (CARICOM) and Venezuela- called for an
investigation into the  coup d'etat last year, the organization
declined to either investigate.  Although CARICOM suspended Haiti
because the coup violated its  similar democratic principles, the OAS
has not imposed the slightest sanction. Not coincidentally, three OAS
members-the U.S., Canada  and the Dominican Republic- played central
roles in the coup.

The OAS may be passing up another  chance to insist on democracy, with
Haiti's elections scheduled  for this October, November and December.
Secretary-General Insulza  went to Haiti to observe the preparations
by Haiti's Provisional  Electoral Council (PEC) with OAS help. He
spoke with Haitian  and foreign officials, and inaugurated a voter
registration center.  He reaffirmed his support for the PEC, and found
that "despite  some delays, the process is moving ahead."

"Moving ahead" in  this case means that 5% of the eligible voters have
registered,  with only a few weeks left before registration closes on
August  9. The registration center Mr. Insulza inaugurated was about
the 105th opened since April 25th, out of an announced 424 (the  last
election, run by an elected government in 2000, had upwards  of 12,000
centers). The registration center shortage, like most  shortages in
Haiti, hits the poor hardest: there are no centers  in or near Cité
Soleil, the crowded seaside slum that  supports the ousted President
Aristide, but there are three in  Pétionville, the opulent hillside
suburb that forms the  Interim Government's base. There are four in
the whole Central  Plateau, a large region with few good roads.

"Moving ahead" also  means that many potential candidates, party
members and voters  continue to languish in jail, deprived of access
to any judicial  process, while many more citizens keep quiet to avoid
a similar  fate. It means that campaign event organizers need to
consider  arrest or beating, or worse, as one of the costs of their
events

Mr. Insulza's proposed solution  to this crisis, extending
registration by a month, ignores these  fundamental problems. It is
now obvious that the Interim Government  is no closer to relinquishing
power to a democratic successor  than when it started in March 2004.
Haitian voters have seen  enough electoral charades to recognize one,
and they call the  upcoming votes a "selection." They connect the
dots from the arrests of political dissidents to the scarce and
gerrymandered registration centers, and see a return to the days  when
a fraction of the citizenry chose the likes of "Papa  Doc" Francois
Duvalier from a list of approved candidates.

That international experts  keep expressing confidence in such a
transparently flawed process  merely assures Haitians that the Interim
Government's international  supporters are content with the charade.
They foresee the OAS  and the Americans conferring a stamp of approval
on a vote that  is unrepresentative by any objective standards.

Secretary-General Insulza,  a respected political scientist and former
exile from Chile's  Pinochet dictatorship, should be able to connect
the same dots.  He should also understand that even if the OAS gets
away with  calling undemocratic elections this fall a "success"  in
the short term, in the medium and long terms Haiti's problems  will
keep resurfacing, until the people are allowed the government  of
their choice.

In his May 25 OAS inauguration  speech, Mr. Insulza pledged that his
"principal concern  was to strengthen this Organization's political
relevance and  capacity for action." The Secretary-General will have
no  better opportunity to fulfill this promise than right now, in
Haiti. The OAS should immediately use the tools of the Inter-American
Democratic Charter, including suspending Haiti from normal OAS
activities, unless the Interim Government immediately frees all
political prisoners and ceases persecuting dissidents. It should
withhold the organization's extensive technical, financial and
political support until the PEC demonstrates a willingness to  run the
elections on a level playing field. Most importantly,  the OAS should
unequivocally declare that it will not recognize  any election or
resulting government unless Haitian voters are  afforded the fair
election they deserve.

Brian Concannon Jr., Esq. directs the Institute  for Justice and
Democracy in Haiti and is a former OAS Elections  Observer and UN
Human Rights Observer in Haiti. He can be reached  at:
Brianha...@aol.com

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/21/1332235

Thursday, July 21st, 2005
Day of Protest Decries Deaths in Haiti

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In Haiti violence continues two weeks after a UN raid in Cite Soleil
may have left as many as 23 people dead. Today there are coordinated
protests in Brazil and ten cities throughout North America. We go to
Port-au-Prince to hear from Lavalas leader Father Gerard Jean-Juste.
[includes rush transcript]
We go first to Haiti, where violence continues to wrack the capital of
Port-au-Prince. More than 700 people have been killed since September.
Today a coordinated day of protest is planned to condemn the July 6th
UN raid on Cite Soleil, which may have left as many as 23 Haitian
civilians dead. The protests in Brazil and ten North American cities
follows a demonstration by more than 5,000 people in City Soleil last
week.

Also this week, prominent political leader Father Gerard Jean-Juste
was detained by police and falsely accused of bringing weapons, bombs
and money for mercenaries back to Haiti from Miami. Father Jean-Juste
is a prominent leader in ousted president Jean-Bertrand Aristide's
Lavalas party. Lavalas is calling for a boycott of upcoming elections
unless Aristide is allowed to return from exile in South Africa.

This comes as a U.S.-backed advisory council that oversees Haiti's
interim government recommended Saturday that Lavalas be barred from
upcoming elections, accusing the party of encouraging violence. And
last week, journalist Jacques Roche, cultural editor with the daily Le
Matin, was kidnapped and murdered. Some are pinning the murder on
Lavalas forces.

Father Gerard Jean-Juste, Roman Catholic priest in Haiti and possible
Lavalas presidential candidate. Speaking from Port-au-Prince.

More information on the protests at Haiti Action Committee.
RUSH TRANSCRIPT

This transcript is available free of charge. However, donations help
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AMY GOODMAN: We are joined now on the phone by Father Gerard
Jean-Juste. He's attending the funeral of Jacques Roche. Also on the
line Bill Quigley, a volunteer attorney with the Institute for Justice
and Democracy in Haiti. And next in the broadcast we are going to be
speaking with David Zirin, he has written the book, What's My Name,
Fool?: Sports and Resistance in the United States, and we'll remember
Farouk Abdel-Muhti, a Palestinian activist who died a year ago today.
We turn now to Port-au-Prince to Father Jean-Juste, on the phone.
Welcome to Democracy Now!

FATHER GERARD JEAN-JUSTE: Thank you very much, Amy. Good morning to
you. Good morning to everyone. And as you said, I am in Port-au-Prince
in the middle of struggle, but with the help of God we are surviving
and providing [inaudible] services [inaudible].

AMY GOODMAN: Father Jean-Juste, can you describe what happened to you
when you returned to Haiti last Friday?

FATHER GERARD JEAN-JUSTE: There was a radio station in Miami where
somebody has rented an hour on the radio program on the radio. And
then they were accusing me falsely, saying that I'm transporting bombs
and ammunition and also big sum of money to Haiti. And as I arrive at
the airport about to board the plane, they called upon me, and then I
saw three agents who came and demand that I be searched. So they
stopped me. And as I'm talking to you [inaudible] I'm driving, and the
police is [inaudible] me, and so [inaudible] difficult. So they
stopped me. They searched me, and they searched my bags that was
already on the plane.

Then they let the plane leave for Haiti, and arriving in Haiti that
Friday the 15th of July, arriving in Haiti by 1:30, finally. And I
found security posted everywhere. And then I went to customs again,
Haitian customs, and they searched all my luggages, everything. And
after I went through all the search and as I was setting out to go
home, and then a policeman approached me and said that they want me to
come with them to go to the – to where they have the police station by
the airport. So that's where I went. Yeah, that's where I went, and I
stayed until, I think it was about 4:00, and I left there by 6:00.

They wanted to question me about many things, and then finally I said
to them, "Hey, listen, I have a service at 4:30 and have another one
at 7:30, and I'm not going to answer any questions today," after I
identified myself and said everything about where I'm coming from, but
"any question regarding any [inaudible]. I'm not going to answer
anything." And then as they understand that I was not going to talk,
they called a chief and the chief asked them to make me fill the form
that I'm not going to answer and they could take another appointment
with me. And so, that's what was done, and they let me go home by
6:00.

And then I returned to the police station, but this time the
headquarters, because this [inaudible] central direction [inaudible]
judiciary police. And they made me wait from 10:00 to 11:30 in a hot
room with bright lights on my head without [inaudible] in the room
with one chair. And by 11:30 the chief came and said, "Hey, we don't
have any questions for you right now. You go home, and then we'll
write you when we need you again." And so, that was it.

And meanwhile I got a warning from a in charge to be present at the
court Wednesday, July 20. So I went to the court yesterday. They
interrogate me for about two hours, from 9:30 to 11:30, and the judge
took all these [inaudible] instruction and let me go and [inaudible]
said be ready. Whenever they need me, they will call upon me again. So
this is where I am. Everybody want a piece of me and keeping me
harassed, and then I'm persecuted, and threats coming from all over.
And meanwhile, I have been very busy helping the kids in my
neighborhood to have a nice summer, thanks to many friends who have
helped me about that.

So right now, today I'm on my way to attend the funeral of Jacques
Roche, a prominent journalist who had been kidnapped and killed. And
I'm going to show myself because his parents are from my town, and at
a certain time, one of his relatives saved my life. I was being
attacked by a mob, and then Mrs. Roche came out, saw me, and get me
off the gangs and sheltered me at her house. So this is why I feel
that I should be there regardless that they keep accusing Lavalas
people of participating in the killings.

None of us – no Lavalas -- has responsibility, in my point of view. So
what's going on now? We become the scapegoat. Whatever happens in this
country, they put it on the back of Lavalas. And so this is a wrong
thinking that is very dangerous. They want to get rid of Lavalas, and
so anything, they blame Lavalas. So I think enough is enough. If we
want peace in this country, if we want a return to democracy, it's not
the way for the official to operate? They should let the justice
system make its way by going to investigation, find the proper
criminal element, and then bring the criminal element to justice.

Yesterday there was a kidnapping. They found a guy, about a
light-skinned guy, who was involved, and they didn't even let us see
his face. They covered his face at the airport, and we only see the
white feet on the television. And then, so far we have no instruction
on this accused person. So that's the way it is. There are some
people, they are being aimed at, they are being persecuted, they're
being targeted. And others, regardless that they caught them in the
pudding, they try to protect them. So this is a double standard, and
we wish that this will – this persecution of Lavalas will stop. The
sooner the better. And bring the constitutional -- let's return to
constitutional order, because in my point of view, the president, the
de facto president Boniface, the de facto prime minister Gerard
Latortue, they're all criminal, because they have been taking the
power with violence and with [inaudible] within the international
community, with a silent killing, police destroying institutional
goods, destroying the state goods [inaudible]. They are all criminal.
They are the ones who should be brought to justice, and free all of
the political prisoners, especially the legal prime minister, Yvon
Neptune.

AMY GOODMAN: Father Jean-Juste, I want to thank you for being with us.
One last quick question: today there are protests in a number of
cities in North America, from Brazil to the United States to Canada,
for the killings in Cite Soleil last week. On Democracy Now! we had a
report about the U.N. troops moving in. What is the aftermath, and are
there protests today in Haiti?

FATHER GERARD JEAN-JUSTE: We protested yesterday. And today, as the
funeral is taking place, I think the funeral will take the lead and in
honor of Jacques Roche, we are not going to protest in the street
today. There will be a protest today organized by the journalists
[inaudible] we are in very good support and we are very grateful to
all Haiti friends, Haitian American and all of the other friends of
Haitians in U.S., in Canada, in Brazil who are demonstrating.
[inaudible] Last Thursday there was one of key demonstration that we
had at the consulate, at the Brazilian consulate in Miami. Since after
persecution has increased for me, but this is our right to peacefully
demonstrate, and wherever we are, we are going to keep exercise that
right. And I hope that everything will go fine for our brothers and
sisters who are peacefully demonstrating in the world, and then the
message will be clear. We won't accept massacre from any troops in
Haiti, and from police or from the international troops, we won't
accept massacre. They're massacring the poorest Haitians, and we say
no. We should massacre nobody. So in that sense we appreciate very
much the pickets and the demonstrations organized all over U.S. and
Canada and Brazil.

AMY GOODMAN: Thank you very much, Father Jean-Juste. Father
Jean-Juste, a Catholic priest in Haiti who was recently detained by
Haitian forces. He had been in prison for months without charge, now
talking on this day where there is protests throughout North America
on the killing of Cite Soleil residents by U.N. troops. Father
Jean-Juste, speaking to us from the streets of Port-au-Prince where he
said he is driving and being followed now by police.

To purchase an audio or video copy of this entire program, click here
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http://www.counterpunch.org/quigley07202005.html

July 20, 2005

"Father, You Must Stop  Feeding the Children and Come to Jail"

Travels in  Haiti with Father Jean-Juste

By  BILL QUIGLEY

Fr. Gerard Jean-Juste just returned  to St. Claire's Church after a
morning in the police station.  Fr. Jean-Juste was ordered to appear
at the Police Judiciary  at 10 this morning as a condition of his
release from police  custody on Friday afternoon. Fr. Jean-Juste had
been falsely  accused of entering Haiti, from Miami, with weapons,
bombs and  money for mercenaries. .Fr. Gerry told his packed church at
 services on Sunday that he did indeed have a powerful weapon  to
fight for human rights and democracy in Haiti ­ and held  up his
trademark rosary. The church roared their approval.

After waiting in a closed room  without chairs or fan for over an hour
and a half, Fr. Jean-Juste  was finally advised that the police did
not, after all, have  any more questions for him about money or
mercenaries or weapons.  They told him they would get back in touch
with him later if  they wanted to see him.

An international outcry, including  letters from Congresswoman Maxine
Waters (D- CA) and many others,  worked to secure his release from the
police on Friday and apparently  to stop this false prosecution.
However, Fr. Jean-Juste must  still appear in criminal court before
Judge Peres-Paul on Wednesday,  July 20, at 9:30 a.m., to answer
questions about accusations  that he was part of a plot to threaten
the security of the state.  The official paper ordering him to appear
puts the date of the  supposed plot as October 18, 2004 ­ when Fr.
Gerry was already  in jail. Masked police had arrested him while he
was feeding  hundreds of children. Three small children were wounded,
that  day, by gunshots from the police.

After forty-eight days in jail,  Fr. Jean-Juste was released when the
prosecution could present  no evidence against him other than his
repeated statements that  he recognized only elected President Jean
Bertrand Aristide as  President. Fr. Jean-Juste refuses to recognize
the unelected  de facto government which, although it violates the
Haitian constitution,  currently maintains power

After leaving the police station, Fr. Jean-Juste stopped by the  St.
Claire summer camp. There, hundreds of young people - from tots to
teens - were working on crafts, knitting, sewing, drawing. Each of the
children is also fed a hot meal every day of the week. The volunteers
and the children gathered around him and called out "Mon Pere!"

Fr. Jean-Juste said: "Haiti  shall be free again. Thanks for all the
help and prayers. This  is not just about me but about Haiti's
freedom. Free the political  prisoners. Feed the hungry children.
Return our elected President.  Democracy shall come back."

Bill Quigley is a volunteer lawyer for Fr. Jean-Juste  along with
Mario Joseph of the Institute for Justice and Democracy  in Haiti. To
contact Fr. Jean Juste call 509.405.3244. Quigley  can be contacted at
quig...@loyno.edu.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5161097,00.html

Priest Allied to Ex-Haiti President Jailed

Saturday July 23, 2005 3:31 AM

By ALFRED DE MONTESQUIOU

Associated Press Writer

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - A priest allied to ousted President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide has been arrested in connection with the
killing of a prominent journalist, his lawyer said Friday.

The Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste was questioned by the judge and sent to the
Central Prison and told he would be charged in connection with the
death of Jacques Roche, said Bill Quigley, the priest's American
defense attorney.

However, chief government prosecutor Audain Daniel said a decision had
not yet been made on whether to charge Jean-Juste, an outspoken critic
of Haiti's interim government.

In an interview before he was questioned by the judge, Jean-Juste, a
possible candidate for president in fall elections, was in a cell with
more than 20 people and said he feared for his life.

``My enemies are trying to eliminate me,'' he said in an interview
with The Associated Press.

The priest has emerged as a leader of Aristide's Lavalas Family party,
which has been accused by the interim government of stoking violence
to push for the return of the former president, who was ousted
following a bloody rebellion in 2004.

Jean-Juste denied any involvement in the death of Roche, whose body
was found in the street five days after he was abducted in the capital
in a slaying that the government blamed on armed supporters of
Aristide.

More than 700 people have been killed since in Haiti since September.
Most of the violence in Haiti is blamed on well-armed street gangs
loyal to Aristide. But Aristide supporters allege their members have
been the victims of killings and other atrocities at the hands of
Haiti's police.