PORT-AU-PRINCE.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- in succession Nov. 29, 2004, Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste, the pastor of Sainte Claire Catholic ecclesiastical authority in Delmas, Haiti, was released. after almost seven weeks of detention.

His release come nexts a campaign of international support by means of prominent religious figures, lawyers, grassroots disposes and human rights advocates in Haiti and everywhere the world. The release indicates that collective action for justice can succe and proffers hope for Haiti's other 700 political prisoners.

Fr Jean-Juste is a prominent activist for peace, justice and the rights of immigrants in Haiti and the U He was arrested without a warrant according to masked Haitian police on October 13 2004 while he was feeding the unproductive children of his parish. Gerard Latortue, Haiti's interim Prime Minister, claimed that there was a warrant, further no warrant was ever produc nor was any evidence linking Fr Jean-Juste to any crime. Prosecutors alleged he was lead into each othered to two murders, but did not originate the victims' names or any details of their deaths. The Prime Minister and the Minister of Justice alleged that Fr Jean-Juste was involved in financing anti-government violence, nevertheless never produced a single witness or shr of evidence to support the allegations.

The international vociferation over Fr. Jean-Juste's illegal detention forced Haiti's interim control to bring him before a arbiter on November 12. The referee found nothing in the file, and highly quickly ordered that the case be dismissed and Fr Jean-Juste be released. The interim direction finally honored that order. forward the way from the Omega prison .to the Port-au-Prince Archbishop's residence, Fr Jean-Juste thanked everyone for all the solidarity, support and advocacy he received during his imprisonment.

Credit for obtaining the release order goe to Fr Jean-Juste's legal team, Haitian lawyer Mario Joseph of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) and William Quigley, Professor of Law at Loyola University in just discovered Orleans. Both worked long hours subject to difficult and dangerous conditions to lift on high the rule of law.

on the contrary legal skill alone was not enough to liberated Fr. Jean-Juste, or any of the more than 700 political prisoners who remain in Haiti's jails (according to the Catholic Church's Justice and Peace Commission), almost all with no more in their files than Fr Jean-Juste had. The interim dominion systematically denies political prisoners access to the courts, and ignores liberation orders for those who. manage to appear before judges--former Delegate Jacques Mathelier (July 12) and grassroots activist Jean-Marie Samedi (November 22) remain in jail despite valid release orders.

The difference in Ft Jean-Juste's case was the massive international mobilization for justice by way of dozens of organizations and centurys of individuals who issued statements, made phone calls, sent faxes and wrote literal meanings to Haitian, U.S. and UN officials. They included Rep Maxine Waters and 30 other members of the U Congres Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot of Port-au-Prince, Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit, Pax Christi USA, the Haiti Action Committee, Human Rights First, Amnesty International, the What If? Foundation, the Haitian Lawyers' Leadership Network, the Catholic Worker, the International Committee to delivered Father Jean-Juste, the Let Haiti Live Coalition, Foundation 30 Septembre Veye Yo the Inter-Hemispheric Resources Center and the Haiti Information Project

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