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A US military plane flew 18 suspects in the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse out of Haiti on Sunday to face trial in Florida.
Getting into it: The group is made up of 17 former Colombian soldiers and Joseph Badio, who once worked on anti-corruption cases at Haiti’s Justice Ministry and whom Haitian investigators have named as the plot’s ringleader, according to Haitian Justice Minister Patrick Pelissier. Badio maintains his innocence and says he’s being set up to take the fall.
In a statement, Jason Reding Quiñones, the US attorney for the Southern District of Florida, said, “Today marks the next major phase in our pursuit of accountability for the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. We will follow the evidence wherever it leads, to those who financed it, facilitated it, supported it or committed crimes to make it possible. Five years later, we are still bringing defendants before American courts, and we are not finished.”
Moïse, 53, was shot to death on July 7, 2021, in the bedroom of his private home overlooking Port-au-Prince by a team of roughly 20 former Colombian soldiers. US prosecutors say the plot was planned and paid for out of South Florida. In May, a Miami jury convicted four men tied to CTU, a local security firm that prosecutors say hired the gunmen in hopes of landing lucrative contracts once Moïse was gone.
Five others have already pleaded guilty and are serving life in prison, and Christian Sanon, the Haitian American man the plotters allegedly picked to replace Moïse, is set to go on trial next week.
Haiti’s own case never made it to trial. Judge after judge stepped down from the case over threats to their lives, gangs took over the courthouse handling it, and last October an appeals court ordered a third investigation into the killing.
This all comes as Haiti remains without a president, gangs control most of Port-au-Prince and nearly 1.5 million people have been forced from their homes. The country’s first national election since 2016 is tentatively set for December 13, if security allows.
