Haiti Judge Orders Release of Journalists

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Haiti Judge Orders Release of Journalists


Monday September 12, 2005 11:46 PM

AP Photo PAP101

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - A judge Monday ordered the release of a Haitian and an American journalist who were arrested as they covered a police search of the church of a jailed priest who is a potential presidential candidate.

Kevin Pina was reporting for a U.S. radio program and Haitian Jean Ristil was working for The Associated Press. They were freed without being charged after spending the weekend in jail by the judge who had ordered their arrest at the church of the Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste.

Pina, of Oakland, Calif., was detained after filming the police as they searched the church. Ristil was taken into custody as he tried to photograph the arrest of the American.

They were taken to a police station, where Judge Jean Peres Paul ordered them held on suspicion of ``disrespect to a magistrate'' and resisting arrest.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5273592,00.html