The Haitian judiciary has indicted about fifty people, including former first lady Martine Moïse, a former prime minister and a former police chief, for their alleged involvement in the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, local media reported.
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Haitian media AyiboPost published online on Monday what it describes as an order from the judge in charge of investigating the case, a 122-page document “arising from about ten hearings” but which does not allow “to clearly identify the intellectual authors to identify”. neither the assassination nor the financial weapons,” the media notes.
According to this document, the judge requested the transfer of Ms. Moïse and 50 other people to the criminal court “to face charges of criminal conspiracy, armed robbery, terrorism, murder and complicity in murder, as well as crimes committed in the context of bias to be brought to justice.” by President Moïse.
“The consistent accusations and indications of the involvement of the former First Lady (Martine Moïse) in the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse are sufficient,” says this document, which states that “the statements of the former First Lady (.. .) …”so full of contradictions that they leave something to be desired and discredit it.”
Those charged include former interim prime minister Claude Joseph and former director general of the National Police Léon Charles. The decision states that there is “sufficient evidence” of complicity in the assassination of the Haitian head of state for both.
On July 7, 2021, Jovenel Moïse, aged 53, was shot dead in his private home by a commando of more than 20 people, mostly Colombian mercenaries, without his bodyguards intervening. Martine Moïse herself was injured in the attack.
On February 9, Joseph Vincent, a Haitian-American accused of participating in his assassination attempt, was sentenced to life in prison in Florida, USA.
The American judiciary had initiated proceedings against eleven people who were accused of involvement in the attack on the grounds that the conspiracy had been hatched in Florida. Four of them were sentenced to life in prison, including Joseph Vincent, who pleaded guilty in December.
Haiti is facing a serious political, security and humanitarian crisis. Armed gangs have taken control of swathes of the country, murders have more than doubled in 2023, and Mr. Moise's killing plunged the poorest country on the American continent even further into chaos.