Haiti's Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste to hold his first New York Press Conference since his release after six weeks as a political prisoner in Haiti

In his first appearance in the New York City area since his release from Haiti's prisons, Rev. Gérard Jean-Juste will hold a press conference in Brooklyn, Friday, December 17, 2004 at 11:00 am to discuss his six-week ordeal as a political prisoner in Haiti and to provide a briefing on Haiti's current crisis.

The press conference will be at the offices of Haiti Diaspo television station located at 1115 Nostrand Avenue, between Midwood Street and Maple Avenue, in Brooklyn. 

Rev. Gérard Jean-Juste was arrested by masked and heavily armed police on October 13th while feeding poor children at his Catholic parish in the Delmas neighborhood on the outskirts of Haiti's capital. For six weeks he was one of the approximately 700 political prisoners languishing in Haiti's prisons after being targeted by Haiti's interim government. 

Since the February 29, 2004 coup d'etat thousands of supporters of Haiti's democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his constitutional government have been killed, tortured, raped and imprisoned.

Immediately following Rev. Gérard Jean-Juste's arrest thousands mobilized in Haiti and internationally for his release. Rev. Gérard Jean-Juste is a longtime advocate for Haitian refugees and Haiti's poor, and past director of the Haitian Refugee Center in Miami.

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For further information please contact Jean Y. Kernizan at 347–262–1818