Father Gerard Jean-Juste, a human rights activist and Catholic priest from Haiti, founded the Haitian Refugee Center in Miami, Florida in the 1970s, and served as its Executive Director for more than a decade.  During that time, he worked closely with Human Rights First and others to help refugees fleeing persecution under the Duvalier regime.  He returned to Haiti in 1991, where he became parish priest at the Sainte Claire Catholic Church.
 
After an armed rebellion ousted former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide on February 29, 2004, Father Jean-Juste became an outspoken critic of human rights abuses perpetrated by armed forces with ties to the interim government, led by Prime Minister Gerard Latortue. As a result of his activism, Father Jean-Juste has endured several arrests and imprisonment on trumped up charges.

On October 13, 2004 on the heels of an upsurge of violence by armed supporters of both the interim government and former President Aristide, Father Jean-Juste was arrested by masked members of the Haitian National Police while running a soup kitchen at the Sainte Claire Catholic Church in Port-au-Prince.  In an interview with reporters, Interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue explained the arrest by saying that Jean-Juste’s name had become “associated with” people suspected of organizing against the government. 

Father Jean-Juste was jailed for almost five weeks before he was brought before a judge on November 12.  The judge dismissed all charges against the priest and ordered his release, but authorities did not release Father Jean-Juste for another 17 days.  His lawyers credited his eventual release to pressure by human rights groups, including Human Rights First, and the international community placed on the Haitian government to treat Father Jean-Juste with fairness and accord him due process.

Upon meeting his lawyers and friends when he was finally released on November 29, 2004, Father Jean-Juste said:  "I hope that my freedom will be the first step to freedom for the many political prisoners still in Haitian jails."  He was referring to the more than 700 political prisoners who are believed to remain in Haiti's jails, including several human rights defenders.  Falsified charges followed by arrests and lengthy imprisonment are often used to silence those who speak out against human rights violations.  The government systematically denies political prisoners access to the courts and ignores release orders for those who manage to appear before judges.

In the last few weeks, Father Jean-Juste has again found himself the target of harassment, arrest, and detention by the interim government of Haiti.  On July 15, 2005, Father Jean-Juste was stopped at the airport in Port-au-Prince upon returning from Miami, Florida.  He was taken to Judicial Police Headquarters and held for questioning for some hours before being released on condition that he return for further questioning the following Monday.  When Father Jean-Juste complied, he was asked no questions and allowed to leave.

He then received a summons to appear before a judge on July 20, 2005 to answer to the charge of “plotting against state security,” a charge which many political dissidents have faced.  The summons stated that the alleged crime took place on October 18, 2004, when Father Jean-Juste was behind bars.  Father Jean-Juste and his lawyers appeared before the judge as required and answered a series of questions about his political opinions.  The judge did not issue a decision and allowed Father Jean-Juste to return to his parish.

On July 21, Father Jean-Juste was attacked while serving as one among seven priests to proffer blessings at the funeral of his cousin, Haitian journalist Jacques Roche, who was killed while Jean-Juste was traveling in Miami.  When he emerged among the seven priests gathered to bless the coffin, funeral attendees began yelling "assasin," "criminal," and "arrest and kill the rat."  The crowd physically attacked Father Jean-Juste, punching him and spitting on him.  Since Roche has been identified as a supporter of those who overthrew the government of former President Aristide, some have blamed his death on members of former President Aristide’s political party, Lavalas.  After UN peacekeepers were able to disperse the crowd, police indicated they would take Father Jean-Juste to the police station for his own safety. 

Father Jean-Juste waited at the police station with his lawyers for approximately eight hours while the UN and Haitian police discussed whether to release him.  Finally, several Haitian officers produced a piece of paper they claimed was an official complaint against Father Jean-Juste accusing him of assassinating Jacques Roche.  The complaint was based on "public clamor" at the funeral accusing him of murdering Roche.  It was their obligation, they said, to investigate this public clamor identifying him as the murderer.  He was locked into a jail cell with 40 other people and no beds, no running water, and just one toilet.

On Friday, July 22, after a brief meeting with a justice of the peace, over a dozen masked police officers with machine guns forced a handcuffed Father Jean-Juste into a police van and sped away to an undisclosed location.  It was later learned that Father Jean-Juste is being held in solitary confinement at the Haitian National Penitentiary.  He has had difficulty gaining access to his lawyers and is apparently facing new charges:  "public denunciation" and "inciting to violence."  The former prime minister of Haiti, Yvon Neptune, who has been in prison for over a year without trial, is also imprisoned under the charge of “inciting to violence.”  Some speculate that Father Jean-Juste is likely to remain in prison until after scheduled elections in the fall.

 

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