By REUTERS

          PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, April 9 (AP) -- Thousands of people
          jammed into a soccer stadium today to mourn a prominent Haitian
          journalist who was assassinated this week outside his radio station.

          President René Préval and former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, both
          allies of the slain broadcaster, Jean Dominique, were among the 15,000
          people who attended the three-hour service here.

          "You died for Haiti," Mr. Dominique's sister, Madeleine Paillère, said
          tearfully over his casket. "You died because you told the truth."

          Mr. Préval did not speak, but his administration awarded Mr. Dominique
          the Honor and Merit Medal, Haiti's highest distinction, "in consideration
          of his inestimable contribution to the construction and reinforcement of
          democracy."

          Mr. Dominique, 69, the country's most influential journalist and opinion
          maker, was shot Monday morning as he pulled into the courtyard of
          Radio Haiti Inter, the station he owned and directed. He was about to do
          his morning newscast when the two unidentified gunmen killed him and
          the station caretaker.

          The assassination followed street violence in the capital last week as the
          government continued to delay calling for elections. Officials have been
          bogged down in organizing the long-delayed vote to install a new
          Parliament and have not been able to set a date.

          Radio Vision 2000, a station known for its anti-government stand, has
          called on the police to give reporters security after repeated death
          threats.

          The government honored Mr. Dominique with a three-day period of
          national mourning that began on Thursday. Stores shut down today to
          honor the man who had championed free speech against civilian and
          military dictatorships for the last 40 years and was one of most influential
          figures in this strife-torn Caribbean nation.

          Mourners filed by to pay their respects to Mr. Dominique, whose open
          casket was displayed under a white canopy in the middle of the soccer
          field.

          "He struggled to change the system radically," said Sony Esteus, who
          worked at Mr. Dominique's radio station. "If he was killed, it is proof that
          the system has not changed."