Haiti: Widow of Slain President Among Dozens Indicted

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Facts

  • A judge in Haiti has indicted 51 individuals for their alleged roles in the 2021 assassination of Pres. Jovenel Moïse, including his widow Martine who has been charged with conspiracy to murder despite being shot in her hand and elbow during the attack.1
  • Among those charged are also former Prime Minister Claude Joseph and Haitian National Police Captain Léon Charles, who now serves as the country's permanent delegate to the Organization of the American States.2
  • The indictment, which doesn't detail the motive for the assassination and how it was financed, relies on the testimony of former Justice Ministry official Joseph Felix Badio, who is currently in custody on allegations of helping to mastermind the killing.3
  • In response to these charges, a lawyer for Martine claimed that his client — whose whereabouts are unknown — was a victim along with her husband and children. Joseph alleged that his successor, Prime Minister Ariel Henry, is 'weaponizing the Haitian justice system' to persecute him and the former first lady.4
  • Henry, who had close ties to a key suspect, has denied any involvement in the assassination or interference in the investigation. A concurrent probe in the US has prompted federal charges against 11 people for conspiring to kill Moïse, not implicating Martine or Joseph.5
  • Pres. Moïse was shot dead on the night of July 7, 2021, after armed men stormed into his bedroom in Port-au-Prince allegedly as part of a conspiracy to replace him with Haitian-American pastor Christian Emmanuel Sanon.6

Sources: 1New York Times, 2NPR Online News, 3Washington Post, 4Axios, 5Wall Street Journal and 6France 24.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by HaitiLibre.com. There is a classic coup d'etat underway in Haiti right now, as Prime Minister Henry takes advantage of the country's corrupt justice system to unjustly persecute his opponents. It's Henry himself who benefited the most from the killing of Moïse, and — all too coincidentally — he had telephone contact with Badio the night of the murder.
  • Narrative B, as provided by Miami Herald. While Prime Minister Henry has been accused of being complicit in the killing and now using the state machinery to advance his agenda, it's undeniably strange that Martine told people in the National Palace, just two days after the death of her husband, that Moïse hadn't done anything 'for us' in office and that she wanted to succeed him with the help of Claude Joseph.

Predictions