More than six months after the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise by a mercenary hit squad, there has been a flurry of arrests of suspects in various countries, but the motive for the crime and its sponsors remain unknown.

Additionally, the investigation in Port-au-Prince appears to have stalled, demonstrating serious dysfunction in the impoverished Caribbean country's judicial system.

Investigation in Florida

Moise was assassinated in his private residence in Port-au-Prince on the night of July 6-7, 2021, allegedly by a Colombian commando. The US Justice Department has charged two men in Miami for their alleged role in this assassination since the beginning of 2022.

Mario Palacios, a Colombian national, is suspected of being one of five armed men who entered the room where the leader was killed. He was apprehended in Panama on January 3 during a layover on a flight from Jamaica.

Rodolphe Jaar, a Haitian-Chilean citizen, appeared in a Miami court after being arrested in the Dominican Republic. According to a document on file with the FBI, Jaar admitted to providing weapons and ammunition to the Colombians during an interview in December.

"The United States has a mechanism to prosecute people who have participated in conspiracies on US territory even if these conspiracies have been hatched for crimes committed outside US soil: it's a good thing," said Marie-Rosy Auguste Ducena, a lawyer within the National Network for the Defense of Human Rights of Haiti. 

The Colombian mercenaries were hired by the Miami-based CTU security firm, and several meetings between the suspects took place in Florida before the deadly attack.

Philippe Larochelle, the lawyer of Joverlein Moise, the son of the slain President, said he was wary of the charges.

"In what form will they have to answer for their actions in the United States, that remains to be seen," said the Montreal-based lawyer. "We are in the early stages."

Magistrate under fire 

It only took a few hours for Haitian police to apprehend 20 former Colombian soldiers and two Haitian-American citizens suspected of being members of the commando that assassinated the 53-year-old President.

These Colombians, who are being held in the Haitian capital, have yet to be questioned by the examining magistrate.

The decision of magistrate Garry Orelien to release four Haitian police officers suspected of complicity earlier this month has also caused consternation, with Ducena going so far as to accuse the magistrate of "engaging in acts of corruption." 

An extradition request made by Haitian authorities for a suspect detained in Turkey in November has yet to be fulfilled. It is unclear whether such a move has been made against John Joel Joseph, a former opposition senator who was arrested last week in Jamaica on suspicion of playing a role in the assassination.

Unanswered questions 

Even though Moise was widely accused of authoritarian excesses, his assassination stunned the entire country, and many questions remain unanswered.

"The main officials and sponsors are still in the shadows", said Larochelle, who believes that a special tribunal is "the only viable alternative" for his client, who only asks "to know who are the people responsible for his father's death."