PRESS RELEASE December 14Th. 2004  for immediate release
DATE:             Friday, December 17, 2004  
CONTACT:    Jean Y. Kernizan or Jacques Dossous
TEL:  347–262–1818 or 917–337–6702
EMAIL:          jk4haiti@aol.com

HAITI'S REV. GERARD JEAN-JUSTE TO HOLD HIS FIRST
NEW YORK PRESS CONFERENCE SINCE HIS RELEASE
AFTER 6 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 from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm 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.

For more background see: http://haitiaction.com/News/IJDH/11_29_4.htm1For further information please contact Jean Y. Kernizan at 347–262–1818