Suspect in journalist murder granted medical release

Updated: April 11, 2006
Original case: July 14, 2005

Jacques Roche, Le Matin
KILLED—UNCONFIRMED

Rev. Gérard Jean-Juste was granted a temporary release from prison on January 30 to receive medical treatment for leukemia. He was accused of involvement in the 2005 murder of Jacques Roche, a well-known Haitian journalist.

On January 12, Judge Jean Perez Paul dropped the murder charges against Jean-Juste, who had been jailed since July 2005, but indicted him on charges of illegal weapons possession and criminal conspiracy, The Associated Press reported.

The Roman Catholic priest flew to Miami for treatment but is supposed to return to Haiti to be tried.

Roche, cultural editor with the Port-au-Prince-based daily Le Matin, was taken from his car on July 10 and was found dead four days later in a slum in Haiti’s capital. According to The Associated Press, his captors demanded US$250,000 in ransom. His body was handcuffed, riddled with bullets and mutilated, according to international press reports. According to The Associated Press, his captors demanded US$250,000 in ransom.

For more information on Roche’s case, please see:
http://www.cpj.org/killed/killed_archives/2005_list.html#roche