Authorities move influential Haitian priest from jail to hospital

A politically influential Catholic priest, whose supporters say is ill with &to=http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/90/361/16496_leukemia.html' target=_blank>leukemia, was transferred from jail to a hospital on Saturday after an appeals court in Haiti approved the move, his lawyer said.

The 59-year-old priest had been in prison since July on suspicion of involvement in the killing of prominent Haitian journalist and poet Jacques Roche. A judge has cleared him of homicide but indicted him on weapons possession and criminal conspiracy _ charges that he denies.

Arriving at Canape Vert, a private hospital in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, the Rev. Gerard Jean-Juste was helped out of the ambulance by supporters as about a dozen Haitian police with shotguns stood guard.

Asked how he felt, the priest said: "I find it difficult to breathe but I'll be all right."

He then sat in wheel chair, clutching two small paintings _ one of &to=http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/90/359/12382_Jesus.html' target=_blank>Jesus Christ and the other of the Virgin Mary _ and was taken into the emergency room, where reporters were barred from entering.

American doctors and supporters have urged Haitian authorities to release Jean-Juste, saying he suffers from leukemia and recently, pneumonia.