A leaked document claims the first lady allegedly conspired with the former prime minister to kill the president and replace him herself.
A Haitian judge investigating the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise has accused his widow, the former prime minister and a former police chief of complicity in the murder.
The leaked 122-page document, published by local outlet AyiboPost on Monday, details how the president's widow, Martine Moise, allegedly conspired with former Prime Minister Claude Joseph to kill the president, with the intention of replacing him herself.
In the document, Judge Walther Wesser Voltaire ordered the arrest and trial of about 50 people involved in the shooting of Moise at his private residence in July 2021. A group of about 20 attackers, most of them Colombian mercenaries, were at the scene.
All of the defendants were referred to the criminal court “to be tried for the acts of conspiracy to commit a crime, armed robbery, terrorism, murder and complicity in murder.”
Justifying the accusation against the former first lady, injured during the attack, the document describes her statements as “so tinged with contradictions that they leave something to be desired and discredit her.”
Joseph and former national police director-general Leon Charles were also found to have “sufficient indications” of involvement in the murder. AyiboPost specified that the document does not clearly identify the intellectual authors of the murder or their financiers.
Moise has criticized what she calls unjust arrests on social media. Joseph had previously told the Miami Herald that the president's de facto successor, Prime Minister Ariel Henry, was “weaponizing the Haitian justice system” to persecute his opponents in “a classic coup.”
A spokesman for Henry's office said the judge was independent and “free to issue his order in accordance with the law and his conscience.”
trial in miami
A separate case regarding Moise's murder is being tried in Miami.
The United States concluded that the case fell within its jurisdiction because part of the murder plot was hatched in South Florida. Proceedings were initiated against 11 people for their alleged involvement in the murder.
Six of the 11 defendants have pleaded guilty to a plot to send Colombian mercenaries to kidnap Moise, a plan that was changed at the last moment to a plot to assassinate him.
According to US accusations, the conspirators had attempted to replace Moise with Haitian-American pastor Christian Emmanuel Sanon.
Chaos
Since Moise's death, Haiti has fallen further into chaos. No elections have been held and Moise has not been succeeded as president.
Henry, who now leads an opposition party, postponed the election indefinitely, citing a devastating earthquake and the growing power of heavily armed criminal gangs, for which he has sought foreign help.
Gangs are rampant in large areas of the country, now estimated to control most of the capital, and homicides doubled last year to nearly 4,800, according to a United Nations report released this month.
Kenya is preparing to lead a UN-ratified international force to support Haitian police, although previous abuses by foreign missions and accusations against Henry's government have left countries wary of offering voluntary support.
