By: Wad­ner Pierre and Joe Emers­berger — HaitiAnalysis

The Court of Appeal of Port-au-Prince has announced the dis­missal of all remain­ing charges against Father Ger­ard Jean-Juste. The Catholic priest is a promi­nent sup­porter of Famni Lavalas, the polit­i­cal party of ousted Hait­ian pres­i­dent Jean Bertrand Aristide.

The Catholic Church hier­ar­chy in Haiti sus­pended Jean-Juste for polit­i­cal activ­ity rather than speak out in his sup­port while he was impris­oned. Asked about the sus­pen­sion, which has out­raged his numer­ous sup­port­ers, Jean-Juste expressed con­fi­dence that it would be lifted.

Parish priests like Jean-Juste, and Jean Bertrand Aris­tide, formed part of the Ti Legliz (lit­tle church) move­ment. It dis­tin­guished itself by oppos­ing the dic­ta­tor­ship of Jean Claude Duva­lier. How­ever the upper ech­e­lons of the Church have fre­quently col­lab­o­rated with dic­ta­tor­ships in Haiti.

The Vat­i­can rec­og­nized the mil­i­tary junta that deposed Aris­tide in 1991 at a time when world opin­ion was hos­tile to the junta. Fran­cois Duva­lier was excom­mu­ni­cated by the Catholic Church in 1959 because he had expelled cler­gy­men from Haiti who had crit­i­cized his regime. How­ever, in 1966, Pope Paul IV made an astound­ing capit­u­la­tion to the dic­ta­tor. After intense nego­ti­a­tions the Duvalier’s expul­sions remained in effect, Duvalier’s excom­mu­ni­ca­tion was annulled, and the dic­ta­tor was given con­sid­er­able say over cler­i­cal appoint­ments in Haiti.

The Bureau des Avo­cats Inter­na­tionaux (BAI), an affil­i­ate of the Insti­tute for Jus­tice and Democ­racy in Haiti (IJDH), run by lawyer Mario Joseph, took the lead in fight­ing for Jean Juste. Jean-juste has been receiv­ing con­grat­u­la­tory emails and phone calls through­out the week from sup­port­ers and friends.