Assassinated Haitian President's widow charged alongside ex-PM
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A leaked document reveals that the president’s widow, Martine Moïse, conspired with former prime minister Claude Joseph to murder the president to replace him herself.
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Former first lady of Haiti, Martine Moise, speaks during the funeral of her slain husband, former President Jovenel Moise, accompanied by her children in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, Friday, July 23, 2021. (AP)
A document leaked to social media reveals that amid investigations into the assassination of Haiti's President in 2021, Jovenel Moïse, the Haitian judge leading the latter has charged 50 people, including the assassinated president's widow and a former prime minister noting that his order calls for the arrest and trial of those charged.
The 122-page document from Judge Walther Wesser Voltaire, released by AyiboPost, states that the president’s widow, Martine Moïse, conspired with former Prime Minister Claude Joseph to murder the president to replace him herself.
On 7 July 2021, armed men broke into Jovenel Moïse's Port-au-Prince bedroom on the night shooting him while also injuring his widow.
Upon being contacted by Reuters to comment, the former first lady did not immediately respond, nor did Joseph. However, Moïse has criticized on social media claiming these are "unjust arrests and political persecutions."
The ex-prime minister claims it is a coup
Joseph, from his end, speaking with the Miami Herald, pointed fingers at the president’s de facto successor as leader, Ariel Henry, the current prime minister, claiming he is the main beneficiary and was “weaponizing the Haitian justice system” to persecute opponents in “a classic coup d’etat”.
A spokesperson for Henry’s office stated that the judge was independent and “free to issue his order in accordance with the law and his conscience”.
Henry replaced Joseph, who now leads an opposition party, days before the assassination. At the time, he pledged to hold elections but has delayed these indefinitely claiming it is because of the tragic earthquake and the growing power of heavily armed criminal gangs.
The gangs are predicted to take over most of the capital, and Kenya is preparing to lead a UN-ratified international force to support Haitian police, however, previous abuses by foreign missions and allegations against Henry’s government have left countries skeptical of providing support.
Miami is involved
A separate case on Moïse’s assassination is being tried in Miami, where six of 11 defendants have pleaded guilty to a plot to send Colombian mercenaries to kidnap Moïse, a plan that at the 11th hour shifted to a plot to murder him.
According to US charges, the conspirators' goal was to replace Moïse with a Haitian-American pastor, Christian Emmanuel Sanon.
