Haitian party announces jailed priest to be presidential candidate

Published: 2005-09-08

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (CNS) -- Haiti's Lavalas Family party has announced its choice of presidential candidate: Father Gerard Jean-Juste, a priest who has been jailed without charges since July 21. "The Lavalas Family listens to the people, and we have decided to support the choice of the masses to promote the candidacy of Father Jean-Juste," said party member Louis Gerard Gilles, a former senator. "He is eligible because he is a prisoner of conscience, recognized by Amnesty International, who has never been convicted." Father Jean-Juste has been held in prison since his arrest at the funeral of murdered journalist and poet Jacques Roche. Father Jean-Juste was in Miami at the time of Roche's death. The Lavalas Family has announced demonstrations in mid-September to call for Father Jean-Juste's release. The party said the priest's candidacy will be registered Sept. 13, two days before candidate registration closes. The first round of presidential and legislative elections is Nov. 20.

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