Rédaction Africa Links 24 with BBC
Published on 2024-02-20 15:54:55
A Judge in Haiti has announced that the widow of the slain President Jovenel Moïse, Martine Moïse, has been charged in connection with the assassination of her husband on 7th July 2021. She is one of the many individuals who have been charged following a two-year investigation into the matter. The legal document related to the charges accuses her of “complicity and criminal association”. However, there has been no public comment from Martine Moïse or her legal representative regarding the specific charges. And her current whereabouts remain unknown.
Martine Moïse has deployed social media to criticize what she referred to as “unjust arrests” and an apparently never-ending persecution. As the indictment has been made public, many Haitian media outfits have expressed disappointment that it identifies 51 individuals but does not specify who ordered and funded the assassination of President Moïse.
The late 53-year-old President Moïse was killed at his private residence by a group of Colombian mercenaries on the 7th of July, 2021. The recent charges were released to the public by a Haitian news site, Ayibo Post, following an indictment by the fifth judge to handle the murder inquiry, Walther Wesser Voltaire. The indictment specifically cites the accusations against Martine Moïse and 50 other suspects in the document.
It alleges that Martine Moïse’s statements regarding her husband’s murder were contradictory, discrediting her. The document cites a statement by Lyonel Valbrun, the secretary-general at Haiti’s National Palace at the time of the assassination, as evidence against Martine Moïse. Valbrun claimed that Martine Moïse was at the National Palace two days prior to the murder, spending five hours removing belongings, which suggests that she may have had prior knowledge of the assassination. Another suspect, Joseph Felix Badio, who is a former Haitian Justice Ministry official, accused Martine Moïse of organizing her husband’s removal from power. According to Badio, the plan was for then-Prime Minister Claude Joseph to take over and subsequently hold elections where Martine Moïse would run for president.
Claude Joseph, who has also been charged with conspiracy and criminal association along with other charges, accused the current prime minister, Ariel Henry, of targeting Martine Moïse and himself. He believes Henry was the main beneficiary of President Moïse’s assassination and has been calling for his resignation, citing his failure to deliver on his promise to hold long-delayed elections due to gang violence. However, Mr. Henry opposed this, maintaining that the elections cannot be held in the current state of gang violence in the country. He further dismissed allegations linking him to President Moïse’s assassination.
The investigation into President Moïse’s murder is not limited to Haitian authorities, as the US has also sentenced four individuals to life imprisonment. These individuals took part in devising the plot to assassinate President Moïse. This adds to the complexity of the situation, with multiple characters implicated in the tragic death of Haiti’s former president.
Read the original article on The Namibian
